Where is the Community in Space and Time?

• Community Profile
• location, geography, and history
• SWOT: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
• Needs Assessment Survey: What do residents like or dislike about the city, community or county.
• Collect facts, not just opinions

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• Vision
  
• can create a framework for the rest of the process
• needs assessment survey*** super important
  
• charette
• builds trust and confidence in the incoming consultant
• this is the particular reason/value of starting with visioning.
  
• Facts (maybe you want to do one first)
• Analysis-->Goals and Objectives
• SWOT can get embarrassing to elected officials
• it is good to run this by the elected officials first

Sources of Info-Public

• Federal-Cenuss Bureau: American Fact Finder: POp, Housing, Econ Activity
• Topographic Quad maps from US Geological Survey
• Floodplain maps-FEMA (badly out of date)
• State-GIS data layers, Economic bse Natural Resources, Geology, Aerial Photos
• Water Resources Board
• Economic Development Department
• Regional Planning Commission-pop econ base, transportation, housing
• MPO-transportaiton, land use air quality
• county-GIS data layeres, soils, econ base, transportation
• County Extension, local college, natural resources, studio class
• Community-history, housing (visual survey), community facilities, economic base, land use.

Current Land Use Patterns

• Mix of existing uses
• potential to accommodate growth
• infrastructure and transport (location and problems)
• potential for natural areas (parks, greenways, trails), working landscapes (farms ad forestry)

GIS Example from Lancaster County, PA

• County "flown" for ortho photos
• Property boundaries (poperty tax maps) superimposed on orth photos
• Property tax assessment keyed to each parcel by land use and buildings
• Soils layer, waterways layer
• Street and road networks
  
• Sewer and water lines

Land Suitability, Water Suitability and Infrastructure
land suitability: idenify constraints to development: steep slopes, welands, and floodplains, waterways, prime farm and forest lands

soils land
class one (slope of 0-3%) is good for development
class two (slope 4-15%) slope
class three--> needs engineering but possible for development

Water Suitability

• Identify Water Sources and Capacities: surface and ground-State Environmental Agency, Water resources Board
• Cities that depend completely on ground water-->sole source aquifer-->Schenectady, Miami; used faster than it can be recharched, contamination, difficult to clean up.
• Water quality and potential threats
• Identify impaired waterways: state 303 (d) report -Total Maximum Daily Loads
• Treatment facilities: State Environment Agency, PA Public Utilities Commission
• Water Lines
• Climate-recent trends
• NYC spent about a million dollars fixing their water system, then had to spend more

biggest threats:
agricultural farm run-off
sewer overflows

Devise a Suitability Rating Sstem

• No building on slopes over 15%
• No construction in known floodplains
• Wetlands: CSOs Duany comment about how we need more regional control
  
• How will landowners react to this system?
• Rating syste

Note Problems with Current Lan Use patterns

• Traffic Congestion
• poor drainage
• lack of pedestrian access
• areas with substandard housing
• parking
• site distance
• empty buildings and vacant lots
• flood probe areas
  
• brownfield areas
  

Calculate the Current Land Uses in acres

• Is this a good mix of land uses
• What is the problem with zoning lots of land for industrial? It's not happening.
• do we need more or less of certain uses
• total developed land, total vacant land
• is densification needed? in-fill potential?
• should the city be looking to annex land?

Calculate Current Land Uses in Acres

• is it a good mix o land uses
• Do we need more or less of certain uses?
• Total developvel