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Helping communities on the edge

Nonprofit 1000 Friends brings GIS visual tools to planning process

It can be difficult to engage citizens in community planning when your primary tools are abstract concepts like cluster housing or sustainable development. But when citizens can visualize their future using computer mapping tools like Metropolitan Council Maps or Google Earth, the concepts come to life.

That’s one of the ideas behind the Growing By Design Technical Resource Center, an initiative of the St. Paul-based nonprofit organization 1000 Friends of Minnesota. The resource center helps communities to think about their growth options, engage citizens in the planning process and forge a common base of understanding of planning concepts. It also brings geospatial data tools to small, growing communities that can’t afford to set up their own geographic information system (GIS).

For example, 1000 Friends worked with the City of Dayton, in northwest Hennepin County, as part of a University of Minnesota Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) program called “The Edge Project.” Funded by the McKnight Foundation, the project studied issues faced by growing communities at the edge of the metro area and provided tools to help financially constrained communities with their planning efforts.

“GIS mapping tools are invaluable for helping communities visualize and analyze the possibilities in planning for their future,” explained Mark Vander Schaaf, Director of Planning and Growth Management for the Metropolitan Council. “The Council’s Maps tools and other products make it easier for citizens to become involved in planning. We fully support the efforts of 1000 Friends to bring these tools to small communities that don’t have planners with GIS expertise or resources to create a GIS.”

Creating a parks plan for Dayton

1000 Friends assisted Dayton to develop a plan for parks, trails and open space. In 2000, the city had a population of 4,693 – a figure that is expected to grow to 28,700 in 2030. To create its 2030 comprehensive plan update, the city needed to determine where that growth will occur, what areas the city wants to preserve as parks and open space, and how to connect development and parks with a system of trails.

“Interactive mapping is a canvas to facilitate that planning,” said Sally Wakefield, Geospatial Services Manager for 1000 Friends. She brings two primary mapping tools to communities – Google Earth and Community Viz.

Wakefield describes Google Earth as “low-tech” and very user friendly. “It helps laypeople relate to and understand information about their community,” she said. Community Viz, on the other hand, is a “sophisticated analysis tool” that allows users to create different development scenarios and analyze a variety of impacts, from stormwater runoff to transit use.

Building on the knowledge of residents

One of the goals in Dayton’s open space planning process was to take advantage of the detailed and localized knowledge of city residents. To accomplish that, Wakefield and CURA’s Dan Marckel used Google Earth aerial photos as a base map. They then layered on other data obtained through MetroGIS, a regional geospatial data-sharing collaborative supported by the Metropolitan Council. Adding data like land use, surface water, significant natural areas, streets and sewer interceptors gave residents a more complete picture of what’s already on the ground in their community. 

During an all-day “note-taking exercise,” residents were invited to come in at their convenience, look at the computerized maps and add information about different points or areas on the map. For example, residents noted:

• “The City and Three Rivers Park District are working to get a trail crossing here.”
• “Stormwater is collected from this street and sent right into Diamond Lake…Can this be a candidate for a grant for a rainwater garden or something larger to improve water quality?”
• “A developer is interested in this site. How soon will it be sewered?”

 
People could even add links to videos posted online, Wakefield said, such as someone describing the history of a farmstead or showing local nesting sites of declining bird species.

The resulting map was “remarkably detailed” and was very helpful in developing the city’s parks, trails and open space plan, said Tim McNeil, who participated in the planning exercise and is now a member of the Dayton City Council. “But it will go way beyond that for our comprehensive planning process. I’m hoping to use the map to create overlays for our ordinances so that, for example, we can decide to establish a more stringent standard for low-impact development in more sensitive areas.”

Part of the process was putting the maps on CD for residents to take home so they could get more familiar with the data. “Before the advent of public mapping systems like Google Earth, only trained professionals had access to land-based data,” Wakefield said. “These public tools help build trust and a better understanding of the data. They also help people better understand their entire community, not just the area they live in.”

Edge cities will be able to apply for assistance

Backed by a new $1.5 million grant from the McKnight Foundation, 1000 Friends – in partnership with the CURA and the U of M’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs – will deliver direct planning and implementation assistance to 10 rapidly growing communities both inside and outside the seven-county metro area over the next six years through their new “Community Growth Options” project.

“We will go in and help communities with the typical visioning and planning process, stay with them through the revision of their ordinances, and into the next planning cycle,” Wakefield said. The project will kick off in March 2008, when interested communities will be invited to submit a proposal to participate in the process.

“The geo-visualization tools that we and the University partners offer will help residents assess their current resources and potential options to make the best decisions for their communities,” Wakefield said.

“We want to foster a long-term vision for growth, prosperity and preserving what’s working best in the communities that participate in our program,” said Jeff Heegaard, executive director of 1000 Friends of Minnesota.