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 | TCSP-1999 Grant Proposals"Urban reserve planning for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region" |
I. COVER SHEET
| Project Information | |
| Type of project request: | Implementation Grant |
| Project name and location: | Urban reserve planning for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region |
| Organization: | Metro (applicant) in partnership with the cities of Gresham and Portland, Clackamas County and the Johnson Creek Watershed Council |
| Key Contact: | Marian Maxfield Hull |
| Address: | 600 NE Grand Avenue, Portland, OR 97232 |
| Phone/fax/e-mail: | Phone (503) 797-1869 Fax (503) 797-1911 E-mail hullm@metro.dst.or.us |
| Grant request: | $500,000 |
Abstract
With a comprehensive system to preserve resource lands and encourage "smart development," Oregon is a national leader in effective growth management. Metro just completed the first significant expansion of its urban growth boundary since it was drawn 20 years ago. This proposal seeks to fund an innovative, multi-agency partnership to plan for the transportation, land-use and environmental impacts of a key portion of the expansion.
Master planning for the area must occur before development begins to ensure efficient provision of services and infrastructure and effective environmental conservation, but local resources are not available for this comprehensive approach. Without outside funding, planning will occur on a piecemeal basis as areas are developed.
The jurisdictions that will ultimately govern this area have already formed a partnership to address the needs of the area. Metro is seeking funding to help local governments address the difficult transportation, land-use and environmental challenges of the area, including:
This is the first of several anticipated urban reserve planning efforts in the region. This project will help answer questions of how rural areas can develop over time into land- and resource-efficient urban uses. The lessons learned in this project will guide future urban reserve planning efforts and can be transferred nationally to encourage smart development practices.
II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Project Background
As the regional government for the Portland area, Metro is responsible for managing the region’s growth in conjunction with the local jurisdictions. The Metro 2040 Growth Concept defines the form that growth and development will take for the next 40 years. The Growth Concept encourages compact development near existing or future transit corridors to limit sprawl and conversion of rural land to urban uses. It encourages preservation of existing neighborhoods, provides for multi-modal accessibility, identifies "rural reserve areas" as places not subject to urban growth boundary expansion, and sets goals for providing permanent open space inside the urban growth boundary.
A key component of the 2040 Growth Concept is the urban growth boundary (UGB). Land inside the boundary is available for urban development; land outside is available only for rural or agricultural uses or for open space. State law requires Metro to maintain a 20-year supply of residential land inside the boundary. In December 1998, the Metro Council moved this boundary to meet part of the 20-year land need identified in 1997. It was the first time that Metro added a significant amount of land to the UGB since the boundary was drawn in 1979. Metro Council will make a second boundary adjustment in December 1999 to meet the remainder of the 20-year land need.
UGB expansions can occur only in urban reserves, land areas designated by the Metro Council for future growth. Urban reserves are selected based on their ability to meet specific state and regional criteria, including:
Before development can occur on the land added to the boundary, Metro Code requires that local governments complete conceptual plans for land-use, transportation, infrastructure delivery and environmental impacts. The areas are currently zoned for rural uses. The existing transportation system consists of old "farm-to-market" roads that are inadequate for today’s development patterns.
Urbanization of these new areas will bring many challenges and opportunities. This proposal seeks to fund a partnership that will address the land-use and transportation system needs of key expansion areas on the eastern edge of the region. This project will develop plans that determine land-use and transportation patterns that maximize the efficiency of existing and future infrastructure, and minimize the environmental impacts of future urbanization on an environmentally sensitive area.
Project Summary
Metro is seeking TCSP funds to address the land-use, transportation and related environmental impacts of development of about 6,400 acres of land in urban reserve areas in and near the eastern edge of the current UGB. Metro and the cities of Gresham and Portland and Clackamas County, the local jurisdictions that will govern these areas, are already actively involved in planning for future growth. We are seeking resources to complete and exceed the conceptual planning required by Metro Code.
TCSP resources will enable us to plan for the entire set of urban reserves at once, a more effective approach than addressing individual reserves on a piece-by-piece basis as portions are developed. The goal of the TCSP pilot is to comprehensively address the transportation and land-use needs for these urbanizing rural areas. This project will create new tools for minimizing the impacts of development and supporting transportation infrastructure on the environment.
Without a TCSP grant, urban reserve planning will focus on meeting the minimum Metro Code requirements for an urban reserve plan. This means that the transportation, land-use and environmental issues for each urban reserve will be considered separately at the conceptual level of detail required by law or will wait many years until adequate resources can be assembled to begin the work. See the attached news article for more information.
Additional funding is needed for comprehensive planning of the entire area. Watershed boundaries, wildlife habitats, travel sheds and other key planning needs do not follow jurisdictional or urban reserve boundaries. We need to take an inclusive approach to planning the areas to adequately address these needs. Planning the entire set of urban reserves at once will allow us to better address the transportation system needs, land-use patterns and environmental issues. TCSP funding will allow us to develop creative solutions that can be used as models for planning in this region and elsewhere in the country.
The TCSP pilot program will include detailed planning for about 2,100 acres of urban reserves already added to the boundary and supporting conceptual planning for an additional 4,300 acres of urban reserves. (See attached map showing the planning areas.) TCSP funding will allow us to plan the urban reserve areas already added to the UGB in great detail, including mapping the comprehensive plan designations and preferred transportation system connections. It will also provide resources to augment this detailed planning with critical conceptual transportation and land-use plans for adjacent urban reserves that may be added to the UGB by the end of 1999.
Expanding the project to include conceptual planning for the future expansion areas facilitates efficient development of infrastructure and environmental protections for the entire 6,400 acres. This critical planning work for land not yet added to the UGB cannot be addressed with local resources.
The transportation system and environmental issues related to the Johnson Creek and Rock Creek watersheds in and surrounding these urban reserves will be a particular focus for this grant funding. (See attached map showing existing conditions including topography, streams, major roads and land divisions in the study area.) TCSP funds will be used to ensure that the following goals are met:
A TCSP grant would build on the first phase of work already completed. These recent efforts have successfully resolved future governance for the northern area, assessed the costs of public service delivery and proposed public service providers. Work is currently being done to address these issues in the southern area. In addition, Metro has secured state funding to supplement research on fish habitat in the area and to start-up a planning process to involve a broader range of the community in the next phase of planning.
All of these efforts will enable us to "hit the ground running" if selected for a TCSP grant. We plan to use the TCSP pilot program to develop strategies that can be used as the basis for future urban reserve planning efforts in other parts of the region and the state. In addition, we plan to link this planning effort to another project that will create an environmental design handbook for transportation, called "Green Streets: Environmental Design for Transportation" (contingent on the handbook receiving TEA-21 funding through the regional allocation process).
This grant will provide the opportunity to resolve long-standing conflicts between public agencies on how to address inherent conflicts between the natural environment and urbanization, particularly transportation infrastructure. The goal of Oregon’s growth management policies is to efficiently manage growth – not to stop it. Project participants will work with natural resource agencies and service providers to show how efficient growth patterns in this area will conserve large amounts of farm, forest and environmentally sensitive land elsewhere. Working from this premise, the project will develop innovative tools to address the impacts of development in environmentally sensitive areas.
Work Plan Outline
1) Project initiation – Establish project objectives and management strategies. Establish a citizen policy advisory committee and technical advisory committees. Develop a public involvement program. Initiate project evaluation. Develop baseline surveys. Perform initial panel interviews.
2) Needs analysis and issue identification – Review existing public facilities and conduct a needs analysis for transportation and related infrastructure based on expected population and possible land-use scenarios. Identify community needs related to the future transportation system and urbanization of the area. Work with partners and the general community through public outreach to identify and prioritize development issues for the area.
3) Identify and map natural resource and natural hazard areas.
4) Develop Alternatives – Develop plans and policies for the urban reserve areas including:
5) Select preferred alternative.
6) Draft implementation tools – specific tools will include:
7) Adopt urban reserve plans.
8) Perform project evaluation – The project evaluation will run concurrently with the project timeline. Most of the effort will be focused in the beginning and end of the project, first to set up the program and measure initial expectations, and then to documenting final results. Project evaluators will observe the process throughout to track and document changes as they occur. The last section of this application describes the project evaluation plan.
Expected Results
III. PURPOSE AND CRITERIA
Objectives
1. Transportation system efficiency
The transportation system planning will be integrated with land-use planning and other infrastructure decisions for the urban reserve areas. Comprehensive long-range planning made possible by the TCSP grant will allow the cities and county to coordinate future land-uses with existing and planned transportation infrastructure to make efficient use of the existing transportation system and to strategically add new resources to serve the expected population. Land-use and transportation system planning will be evaluated on its ability to meet specific regional and state policies that require efficient system design, including:
These urban reserves include a number of land-use designations that will require special attention to transportation issues. These include two town centers, an industrial area, and several corridors. The following paragraphs describe each of these designations and the implications for the TCSP work plan.
Town centers are compact mixed-use areas designed to serve the surrounding community with retail activity, commercial services and higher density housing, providing a focal point for community activities. They are designed and located for easy access by all transportation modes, with particular attention to pedestrian access within the town center. The designated town centers are expected to provide services adequate for residents’ daily and weekly needs. Currently, area residents must drive many miles for basic services.
The centers have been conceptually designated in the urban reserve areas, based on projected need, but the actual location of each has not been decided. Their location is constrained by topography, environmental factors and accessibility to the transportation system. This project will locate the town centers to maximize accessibility while minimizing negative environmental impacts.
The designated industrial area is expected to provide family-wage jobs for the community. Most current residents commute to jobs outside the area. An industrial area will need a road system that not only creates accessibility to potential employees nearby but that can facilitate freight movement within the area and connections to industrial areas and shipping facilities outside of the urban reserve areas. Given topographical constraints, the area is unlikely to support enough family-wage jobs to meet the needs of all of the residents. It will be essential to create and enhance connections to nearby employment opportunities.
The designated corridors will be major arterials with good quality transit service. They will feature a good pedestrian environment, convenient access to transit and somewhat higher densities than the areas surrounding them. The urban reserves need new north/south connections for efficient internal circulation and access to nearby developed areas. North/south connections would tie the urban reserves to the Gresham Regional Center, thereby strengthening that center. Creating access to the north will be a key strategy to easing strain on the already overloaded east/west connections. Simply widening the existing road network is not an adequate solution. Strategic new connections to already established areas, particularly to employment opportunities, are needed to build an efficient transportation network in the area.
2. Environmental impacts of transportation
Metro proposes to work with its Federal, state, local government and community partners to identify specific best management practices (BMPs) to reduce the environmental impacts of urban land-uses. New and expanded facilities will be designed to minimize the impacts of new road and bridge crossings on the aquatic and habitat resources within the urban reserves in upper Johnson Creek. The north/south connections discussed above will take pressure off of Foster Road, a key route that currently floods during heavy storms.
Area-wide solutions will include strategies to minimize impervious surfaces in road design and the strategic use of vegetation and bioswales to control stormwater runoff. This project will also develop strategies to achieve multi-modal connectivity across stream corridors, design solutions to minimize impacts of streets near wetlands and stream corridors and wildlife mobility solutions for major streets that cross migratory routes
Key environmental goals are to minimize stormwater runoff impacts (by reducing the quantity and improving quality), to protect sensitive fish and wildlife species, and to reduce additional threats of downstream flooding due to new development. The BMPs developed in this pilot project will provide a model that will be applied to other urban reserves and adapted to individual situations as needed. The BMPs will be monitored and evaluated in order to adapt the BMP designs and improve their effectiveness over time.
3. Reduced need for costly future infrastructure investments
Infrastructure for the entire set of urban reserves will be planned before the area is developed. This approach allows development of area-wide solutions to transportation problems and stormwater management, instead of addressing issues on a project-by-project basis. This approach allows for strategic infrastructure investments that provide maximum access for minimum cost. This comprehensive planning will only be possible if completed before any development of the area and is not possible with current resources.
Urban reserve planning will enable cities to minimize the need for expensive retrofitting in the future by planning a complete multi-modal system that includes sidewalks and appropriate bike and transit facilities to effectively serve expected growth. The adequacy of the proposed system will be evaluated on the basis of regional and state requirements for multi-modal street design and connectivity.
An important project objective is to create a land banking system for transportation infrastructure. This would work by identifying specific parcels of land that are needed to build planned rights-of-way and prohibiting development in those areas. In addition, this project will investigate and recommend strategies to fund facility construction in concert with anticipated development to eliminate the usual gap between development and facility provision.
4. Efficient access to jobs, services and centers of trade
Planning for efficient access to jobs and services is at the heart of the region’s growth management policies. While the primary purpose of adding land to the urban growth boundary is to meet expected housing needs, a key requirement of each urban reserve plan is to provide for sufficient commercial and industrial uses to meet the needs of the urban reserve and nearby areas already inside the UGB. The two town centers and the industrial area designated in these urban reserves are included to address these needs.
Historically, the lack of access to the eastern edge of the region has inhibited employment development and resulted in a jobs/housing imbalance within the area. One of the objectives of this project is to provide access to jobs and to develop the freight corridors needed to move products to ports north of the reserves. The area is unlikely to provide all of the jobs needed for future residents. Strategic connections to nearby employment areas will be needed to support residents. Good connections to the town centers, industrial area and surrounding commercial and employment uses will facilitate shorter trips, reducing vehicle miles traveled in the area. The availability and accessibility of goods, services and employment opportunities will be key to developing complete communities in the urban reserve areas.
5. Strategies to encourage private sector development patterns to achieve TCSP goals
A key objective of the urban reserve planning process is to encourage private sector development that will help meet state and regional growth and transportation policies. Urban reserve plans are required to meet regional criteria for planned development densities, transportation access, environmental impacts and public facility provision.
Planning an urban reserve area before it is subdivided for urban development ensures that the future development will be guided by regional policies. Regional criteria for these plans meet TCSP goals to maximize system efficiency and accessibility, reduce environmental impacts and the need for future infrastructure investments, thereby encouraging private sector development that meets these goals.
TCSP funds will be used to expand urban reserve planning, providing detailed plans for areas inside the UGB and conceptual planning for the adjacent urban reserves. This strategy will provide more information and a greater level of certainty for property owners and developers. This kind of certainty is like money in the bank for developers and property owners, enabling them to make informed decisions about development plans far into the future. Feedback from private sector partners, including developers and industrial representatives, will be important in developing these strategies.
Implementation Grant Criteria
1. Qualification for Federal highway and transit funding
Urban reserve planning activities are eligible for funding under Federal regulations.
2. Coordination with state and locally adopted plans and policies
This project will fund work that is required but not funded by regional and state land-use and transportation policies. The results of this project will be folded into the plans required by Metro for land-use, transportation, natural resources, housing and public facilities. Without TCSP funding, this planning will be delayed and will occur in a piecemeal fashion, as resources become available. The TCSP pilot will go beyond the required elements of transportation and land-use planning to provide local governments resources needed to fully address local needs as well as regional and state requirements. See Section IV. – Coordination for more information.
3. Integration with established community preservation practices
The Regional Transportation Plan includes a wide range of community preservation policies for the region’s transportation system. Specific preservation policies and practices relating to the proposed urban reserve planning effort include the following:
4. Promote investments that minimize environmental impacts
A key goal of the urban reserve planning is to develop the land-use and transportation system elements of the urban reserves in a way that minimizes the environmental impacts of urbanization and enhances the environmental resources of the region. By developing these urban reserve areas wisely, we will be able to protect from development much larger areas of open space, scenic areas, farmland, forestland and environmentally sensitive lands.
Prior to adopting the 2040 Growth Concept, the region estimated it would have needed about 120,000 acres over the next 50 years to accommodate expected growth. This represented a 50% increase in total acreage. Under current growth management policies, the region is expected to expand by less than 19,000 acres over that same period of time.
Regional policies require more intense development in order to contain urbanization to a smaller area. Some environmental agencies and groups have expressed concern about the environmental impacts of higher densities. A key premise of the region’s growth management policies is that the overall environmental costs of higher density are much less that those of developing significantly larger amounts of land to accommodate the same population and employment. The TCSP pilot will study how to minimize the effects of this more intense development.
This TCSP pilot project will enable the development of strategies to build needed transportation system connections with minimal impacts. Strategies might include modifications of the existing transportation system rather than building whole new facilities, developing a dense network of local streets to minimize local traffic on arterial streets and reducing the use of impervious surfaces within roadways to reduce stormwater runoff.
5. Encourage private sector investments and innovative strategies
Future private development in these areas will be based on the plans prepared as a part of the TCSP pilot. The plans will be based on state and regional growth management, transportation and environmental policies, which reflect TCSP goals. Private sector representatives will be included on a citizen policy advisory committee that will help guide the project. Specific groups targeted for participation in the project could include local property owners, the Metropolitan Homebuilders Association and the Sunnyside 205 Corridor Association (a group that represents nearby business and industrial interests).
IV. COORDINATION
This project fits into state and regional planning processes by meeting specific regional requirements that implement state land-use and transportation planning goals. TCSP funds will be used not only to meet these requirements but also to surpass them in both scope and detail. This project will bring together key public agencies including the Oregon Departments of Transportation, Environmental Quality and Fish and Wildlife to begin developing consensus solutions to the issues surrounding development in environmentally sensitive areas.
State agencies and Metro will be included on the technical advisory committee that will be formed to guide the project in conjunction with the citizen policy advisory committee. Other state agency representation will be called upon as needed through the Metro 2040 State Task Force. The Task Force is made up of Metro and the State Departments of Housing, Environmental Quality, Economic Development, Transportation and Land Conservation and Development. Its purpose is to target state resources for use by local governments to help them implement state and regional growth management and community development goals and objectives.
Standing regional advisory committees, state coordination groups, and the governor’s planning liaison will receive regular project updates. The TCSP pilot project will be featured in written materials, such as newsletters published by Metro and targeted to local planners, developers and policymakers. Project staff will be available for local and national training sessions to transfer the knowledge gained in this urban reserve planning effort.
V. PARTNERS
A team of the local governments that will eventually govern and provide services to the urban reserves will lead this project. Metro will participate in the project and will administer the contract for federal funding. We are seeking the participation of a broad range of other public agencies, community and environmental groups and private interests. The roles of each are described below.
Partners in this effort will include the governing jurisdictions of Clackamas County, cities of Gresham and Portland, Metro, and the Oregon Department of Transportation and a range of agencies and groups representing "livability issues" including watershed advocates, community groups, business and development interests and key state agencies. Specific partners could include: the Coalition for a Livable Future, the Johnson Creek Watershed Council, the Audubon Society, the Pleasant Valley Neighborhood Association and other property owners and residents, private industry and development groups such as the Metropolitan Homebuilders Association, Sunnyside 205 Corridor Association, and the Oregon State Departments of Environmental Quality, Land Conservation and Development and Fish and Wildlife.
This project will integrate the resources of its partners through the use of policy and technical advisory committees. The citizen policy advisory committee will combine community members, environmental groups, advocates and other private interests to guide the project. The technical advisory committee, made up of key representatives of the governing jurisdictions, Metro and state departments, will develop strategies to address area needs, using the guidance of the citizen policy advisory committee and other public input. Both committees will meet regularly throughout the project.
In addition, this project will benefit from work completed already in the area that included community involvement in the form of workshops and newsletters. These efforts educated citizens and interest groups that are now ready to participate in this and subsequent planning efforts. Because the only real community gathering place in this area is the elementary school, we will investigate ways of using school facilities and programs for schoolchildren as tools to continue to engage the local community. If successful, the school program could be a component of a long-term evaluation of the project through an annual community feedback program. More traditional public outreach efforts such as public meetings, speakers bureaus and written materials will support the school outreach efforts.
VI. SCHEDULE
| Project Tasks | Timing |
| Project initiation | Months 1-2 |
| Needs analysis and issue identification | Months 2-4 |
| Natural resource and natural hazard area mapping and identification | Months 2-6 |
| Develop Alternatives* | Months 4-10 |
| Select preferred alternative* | Months 10-16 |
| Produce and refine documents and implementation tools: | |
| Months 14-18 |
| Months 15-20 |
| Months 6-17 |
| Months 6-18 |
| |
| Urban reserve plans adopted by governing jurisdictions | Months 18-23 |
| Urban reserve plans approved by Metro | Month 24 |
| Complete and finalize project evaluation | Months 24-27 |
VII. BUDGET AND RESOURCES
The budget for all work that directly relates to this project includes $500,000 in TCSP grant funds, $160,000 of in-kind contributions from local jurisdictions and Metro and a $50,000 grant awarded to Gresham by Metro from Metro’s general fund. These resources will be augmented with an additional $100,000 from a related project that will produce a handbook of environmental designs for transportation projects.
TCSP resources will be used to cover most of the cost of contracted professional services, some staffing and materials, the project evaluation and TCSP-related project travel. The vast majority of in-kind contributions will be staff time devoted to the effort, representing about three FTE over the two years of the project. A small amount of the in-kind contribution will be used to cover materials such as maps, supplies and local travel. The $50,000 grant from Metro to Gresham will be used to augment the budget for professional services.
One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) of the budget will be used for the development of a "Green Streets" environmental road design handbook. This project is currently competing for funds in the regional TEA-21 funding process. The handbook includes work closely related to the TCSP effort and would be folded into this urban reserve planning project, if awarded. The handbook funding decision will be known by June 1999. If the handbook is not funded, the total urban reserve planning budget will be reduced by $100,000, and the planning project will not include production of the Green Streets handbook.
The remainder of the work shown in the budget is directly related to the TCSP urban reserve planning project. Other funds are currently being sought to cover urban reserve planning work related to schools, housing and non-transportation infrastructure, but have not been included in the project budget. The tables below summarize key budget information.
Project Funding Sources | |
| Clackamas County in-kind contribution | $60,000 |
| City of Gresham in-kind contribution | $20,000 |
| City of Portland in-kind contribution | $30,000 |
| Metro in-kind contribution | $50,000 |
| Metro grant to Gresham for urban reserve planning | $50,000 |
| TSCP grant request | $500,000 |
| Total resources related directly to project | $710,000 |
| Percentage local match: 42% |
|
| Other resources included in project (89.7% federal, 10.3% local) | $100,000 |
| Total resources available for all project activities | $810,000 |
Expenditures by Funding Source | TCSP funds | In-kind match | Direct match | Other federal sources | Total |
| Personnel | $116,000 | $158,300 | $274,300 | ||
| Services | $300,000 | $50,000 | $69,700 | $419,700 | |
| Materials | $23,000 | $10,000 | $20,000 | $53,000 | |
| Evaluation | $57,000 | $57,000 | |||
| Travel (local and TSCP-related) | $4,000 | $2,000 | $6,000 | ||
| Totals | $500,000 | $170,300 | $50,000 | $89,700 | $810,000 |
Budget Summary by Project Task | |
| Project initiation | $26,000 |
| Public involvement process | $76,000 |
| Needs Analysis | $70,000 |
| Identify and map natural hazards/resources | $25,000 |
| Develop Alternatives | $100,000 |
| Select Preferred Alternative | $120,000 |
| Prepare implementation tools | |
| Urban reserve plan | $89,000 |
| Comprehensive plan and zoning | $115,000 |
| Infrastructure funding strategies | $12,000 |
| Process handbook | $10,000 |
| Green streets handbook (separate funding source) | $100,000 |
| Adopt plans | $4,000 |
| Project evaluation | $57,000 |
| Travel | $6,000 |
| Total | $810,000 |
VIII. PROJECT EVALUATION PLAN
Purpose and approach
The purpose of this project evaluation plan is to set in place a strategy for assessing how well the project meets the intended objectives and to capture the lessons that may be gained from the project experience. To achieve these purposes, the evaluation process will begin in the earliest discussions of project development and continue throughout and beyond the project life, with feedback to the project participants throughout.
Project evaluators will participate throughout the project, observing the effort and interviewing participants. A team from the Portland State University Institute for Metropolitan Studies, led by Connie Ozawa and Seymour Adler, will complete the project evaluation. Data sources will include direct observation, interviews, review of background documents including regional and local plans, policies and codes and review of documents and products produced in this effort. As recorders of the plan-making process, the evaluators will provide detailed documentation of decisions and events as they unfold for subsequent analysis.
Evaluators will interview a panel of project participants periodically to document perceptions, interpretations of events and their own positions and interests. These interviews will elicit information regarding the basis for and intentions behind their decisions. The information gathered will be considered at a later date and compared to what actually happened. This approach is expected to provide a view of a dynamic process far richer in detail than traditional evaluation methodologies.
A sampling of key goals, objectives and performance measures that will frame this evaluation is discussed below in terms of the project’s process, products and outcomes. The final evaluation plan for the project will refine key goals and objectives and develop finer-grained performance measures.
Process Goals
The primary process goal is to increase coordination, cooperation and collaboration among the project partners, including non-traditional partners, to develop a workable approach for urbanizing the area.
Goal: Build an effective partnership between key interest groups for the urban reserve planning effort that increases coordination, cooperation and collaboration among the entire range of interests.
Objective 1: Include an array of public, private and non-profit partners with interests in transportation, environmental protection and land-use in the project area.
Performance measures: Number and variety of public, private and non-profit organizations such as city and county agencies, developers and property owners, the Johnson Creek Watershed Council, neighborhood organizations, industrial interests and developers.
Objective 2: Develop procedures to facilitate clear and open communication that will enable partners to meet the goals of the project.
Performance measures: The extent to which project team members can accurately convey the positions, interests and needs of other partners in the project. Partners’ ability to work together to overcome differences to develop a set of products that meets project goals.
Objective 3: Create a process that is transferable to other urban reserve planning efforts.
Performance measures: Demonstration that the process is able to meet state, regional and local requirements for citizen involvement for land-use and transportation planning.
Product Goals
The ultimate product goal of this project is the completion of urban reserve plans for the area. The project will also develop tools during the process for use in this and future urban reserve planning efforts. The project offers an important learning opportunity for the several thousand acres of urban reserve areas that will need to conduct similar planning efforts in the near future. The urban reserve plans will be evaluated for their ability to meet Metro Code requirements including measures for land-use efficiency, transportation and public facility provision and environmental impacts. Zoning must provide for average residential densities of at least 10 dwelling units per net developable residential acre and sufficient commercial and industrial development to meet the needs of the area.
Transportation plans must demonstrate that they meet regional connectivity requirements of 10-16 connections per mile and Metro’s multi-modal street design standards. Both the land-use and transportation elements of the plan must show that they meet Metro’s flood management and water protection requirements that limit development in floodplains and essentially prohibit development in riparian corridors.
Evaluation of the attainment of product goals will be achieved by comparing stated goals with adopted products. Data sources will include interviews and review of relevant documents. Panel interviews done throughout the project will be used to analyze obstacles that surfaced during planning and how they were addressed. These analyses will be critically important in enabling other jurisdictions to learn from the experiences documented in this evaluation. After the plans are adopted at the local level, the evaluators will complete in-depth case studies comparing how the plans will be implemented with how implementation was envisioned by participants in the planning processes.
Goal: The project will result in a set of products leading to the development of urban reserve plans. A description of specific products is included in "Expected Results" on pages 5-6.
Objective 1: Production of products and tools to support this and future urban reserve planning efforts.
Performance measures: Number of products produced, their effectiveness in this urban reserve planning project and perceived applicability to future efforts.
Objective 2: Urban reserve plans that are consistent with existing transportation, land-use and environmental resource management plans and policies.
Performance measures: Presence or absence of contradictory plan elements or policies.
Goal: Urban reserve plan that supports achievement of goals regarding efficient transportation, environmental impacts of transportation, reductions in costly future infrastructure investments and access to jobs and services.
Objective 1: Plan elements support efficient transportation.
Performance measures: Consistency of plan with regulations regarding regional connectivity and residential densities as expressed through zoning and inclusion of design requirements to construct multi-modal streets.
Objective 2: Plan elements support minimization of environmental impacts of transportation.
Performance measures: Inclusion of requirements to integrate environmental best management practices to address the impacts on aquatic and habitat resources.
Objective 3: Plan elements support reductions in costly future infrastructure investments.
Performance measures: Inclusion of broad array of strategies for reducing future costs such as the proposed land banking strategy and other infrastructure funding approaches.
Objective 4: Plan elements support access to jobs and services
Performance measures: Inclusion of transportation and land-use strategies to provide access to jobs and services for the residents of the area.
Goal: Implementation of the urban reserve plans by local jurisdictions.
Objective: Approval of urban reserve plan by Metro and local jurisdictions and adoption of appropriate plan elements into comprehensive plans, zoning ordinances and other formal implementation devices.
Performance measure: Number of plan elements formally approved and adopted by local jurisdictions.
Outcome Goals
We propose an outcome evaluation plan that considers short-term effects as a tool to better understand future outcomes. Data sources for outcome goals will include a review of data collected throughout the project, the documents adopted and tools developed to implement requirements, interviews with project participants and with others that will have an effect on plan implementation.
Goal: Institutional and private participants are aligned in their commitment to future visions for the planning area with respect to transportation, environmental and community development issues.
Objective 1: Institutional changes to increase coordination and cooperation.
Performance measures: Documentation that public agencies’ operating procedures include consistent communications and consultation with other jurisdictions and service providers in these areas. Public agencies and private partners have developed consistent procedures for exchanging information, consultation and joint decision making.
Objective 2: Commitment to plan implementation by private partners.
Performance measures: Levels of involvement of property owners and developers in the plan making process, levels of understanding of the plan, levels of support for the plan, and levels of belief in the functionality of the plan.
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