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Alligning Land Use and Water Quality in Ventura County Planning Process
Up one levelStakeholder Advisory Committees (SAC)
The SAC provides an essential link to programs, agencies, jurisdictions, and organizations in the County. SAC members will provide vision and oversight to the planning process to ensure that project outcomes are locally relevant and useful. The SAC will be comprised of representative stakeholders from local government, watershed councils, government agencies, and residents and organizations interested the project. SAC members will be asked to review project materials, attend four meetings (2/year), and assign or recommend someone to represent them in the TWG.
Technical Working Groups (TWG)
The TWG is a subset of the SAC that will meet quarterly to assist in developing project deliverables. TWG members representing various constituencies in land use, water management, and watershed protection, will be asked to provide sources of information as well as input through review of project materials. TWG members will provide an essential link to on the ground planning efforts to ensure the project outcomes are coordinated with other programs.
Regional Watershed Profile and Policy Assessment
LGC will provide a brief but informative regional profile detailing development-related threats to watershed health and aquatic resources. A concurrent assessment of local and regional planning policies and programs will identify land use policies that are either in alignment with, or conflict with, efforts to protect and manage water resources. Combined, this Regional Watershed Assessment will provide a regional profile of threats, issues, and opportunities from which BMPs and related policy language can be developed.
Policy Recommendations
The project will yield a set of integrated and regionally appropriate BMPs and provide recommendations for policies and programs needed to implement them. Recommendations may also identify additional steps and studies needed to adequately characterize the stormwater benefits of compact development and urban application of low impact development techniques.
The Watershed Plan
The information and analysis, management measures, and policy recommendations created in the project will be combined to create the watershed plan. The document will also provide a brief narrative of the project process, introduce project partners, and provide background about the links between water quality, watersheds and local land use decisions.
Training and Outreach
LGC will work with project partners to provide educational opportunities throughout the project increase awareness of water and land use links and to ensure broad understanding of the plan, the issues it is addressing, and the measures it proposes.
Timeline
The project is on a two-year schedule; all work will be completed by October 2008. The first Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting is on April 19th, 2007 from 12:15 – 3:30, with subsequent meetings to be held in September 2007, March 2008, and September 2008 (tentative dates to be set at first SAC meeting). Additional Technical Working Group meetings will be held in June 2007, Dec 2007, and June 2008. Policy recommendations will be available in July 2008 and the final planning document will be released in October 2008.
(City of Camarillo)
- CA Department of Water Resources California Water Plan
- The California Water Plan provides a framework for water managers, legislators, and the public to consider options and make decisions regarding California’s water future. The Plan, which is updated every five years, presents basic data and information on California’s water resources including water supply evaluations and assessments of agricultural, urban, and environmental water uses to quantify the gap between water supplies and uses. The Plan also identifies and evaluates existing and proposed statewide demand management and water supply augmentation programs and projects to address the State’s water needs.
- State of California General Plan Guidelines 2003
- These advisory guidelines serve as a valuable reference for cities and counties in the preparation of local general plans.
- CA Department of Water Resources, Water Data Websites
- This web site provides links to data sources for water bodies in California.
- California Bay-Delta Authority
- A cooperative effort of 20 state & fed. Agencies working with local communities to improve the quality and reliability of CA water supplies & revive the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem.
- CA State Water Resources Control Board, Division of Financial Assistance (DFA)
- The DFA administers the State Water Resources Control Board's financial assistance programs. The site includes information on loan and grant funding for many municipal projects.
- USEPA Office of Water
- The Office of Water (OW) is responsible for implementing the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act and several other statutes. OW activities are targeted to prevent pollution wherever possible and to reduce risk for people and ecosystems in the most cost-effective ways possible.
- Urban Environmental Design Manual
- "Rhode Island's Department of Environmental Management developed the Urban Environmental Design Manual to encourage environmentally sound urban revitalization and infill development by providing guidance to local officials and the development community to demonstrate how smart growth design principles can be integrated with environmental protection and restoration. "
- Bay-Friendly Landscaping
- Bay-Friendly Landscaping is a whole systems approach to the design, construction and maintenance of the landscape in order to support the integrity of the San Francisco Bay watershed.
- Public Policy Institute of California
- A nonprofit organization dedicated to improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research. Its publications include reports, research briefs, surveys, fact sheets, special papers, and demographic bulletins.
- National Service Center for Environmental Publications
- The NSCEP maintains and distributes US EPA publications in hard copy, CD ROM, and other formats.
- Our Built and Natural Environments
- This US EPA publication summarizes the research on the relationship between the built and natual environments, as well as current understanding of the role of development patterns, urban design and transportation in improving environmental quality.
- Smart Growth for Clean Water Report
- This report, produced by the Trust for Public Land and the National Association of Local Government Environmental Professionals (NALGEP), identifies five smart growth approaches that can improve water quality: land conservation, waterfront brownfields revitalization, urban and community forestry, low impact development, and watershed management
- Choices for Growth: Quality of life and the natural environment
- A publication of Texas NEMO and others that discusses and displays the three strategies for a healthy environment: preserving open space, encouraging compact growth, and controlling urban stormwater runoff.
- Puget Sound Online: Low Impact Development
- Information on low impact development in the Seattle area.
- Green Streets: Innovative Solutions for Stormwater and Stream Crossings
- Tools for designing streets.
- Low Impact Development Center
- Organization dedicated to the advancement of low impact development technology witht he goal of maintaining or enhancing pre-development hydrology.
- USEPA Low Impact Development web page
- Links to web sites and publications that promote low impact development.
- Water and Smart Growth: The Impacts of Sprawl on Aquatic Ecosystems
- White paper on the connection between sprawl and water resources
- Start at the Source
- Design Guidance Manual for Stormwater Quality Protection.
- State of California General Plan Guidelines 2003
- These advisory guidelines serve as a valuable reference for cities and counties in the preparation of local general plans.
Workshops on Linking Water and Land Use in California