Mid-America Regional Council
Project Title: Green Infrastructure Planning in the Kansas City Region
Name of Council: Mid-America Regional Council
State/Region Incorporated: Kansas/Missouri
Population of Region: 1.8 Million
Project Manager: Tom Jacobs, Director, Environmental Programs
Links to Website or to final document:
http://www.marc.org/Environment/Smart_Growth/NRI/index.htm - Webpage with all links to final Regional Natural Resource Inventory project documents, technical reports, and power points and other MARC projects
http://www.marc.org/Environment/Smart_Growth/pdf/nribook.pdf - Booklet - On the Map: Conservation Planning for the Kansas City Region
http://www.marc.org/Environment/Smart_Growth/pdf/nrimap.pdf - Map - Conservation Planning for the Kansas City Region – shows map of regional natural resource inventory
http://www.marc.org/Environment/Smart_Growth/pdf/greeninfrastructure.pdf - Brochure: Kansas City Region Green Infrastructure: Designing with Nature
I. Project Overview
The Kansas City regional natural resource inventory is a community-based initiative to map and ultimately conserve natural resources throughout the metropolitan area. The initial mapping and inventory process was completed over an 18 month process ending in early 2005. Future work will focus on the development of a regional green infrastructure policy and planning framework.
Like many other parts of the country, urban development pressures threaten Kansas City’s natural resources - from forests and prairies to glades, wetlands and riparian corridors. A comprehensive resource inventory and assessment is a critical first step toward sustainable green infrastructure planning at the local and regional levels.
The project is positioned to address a broad range of environmental issues in an integrated way. Likely benefits include more sustainable urban development patterns, flood damage reduction, improved air and water quality, habitat conservation, stream course stability, new neighborhood amenities and recreational facilities, and improved human health.
The Mid-America Regional Council (MARC) leads a community partnership to oversee the initiative. MARC serves as a voluntary association of local governments and as the regional and metropolitan planning organization for the 3800 square mile Kansas City metropolitan area – including two states, eight counties and 116 municipalities. Significant funding for this initiative has been provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
II. Project goals
Five key goals guide project activities. These are to:
i) Assess the current state of ecological resources as an initial step toward more integrated watershed management and green infrastructure protection
ii) Compile baseline geographic information system (GIS) mapping information for local governments to improve environmental aspects of local planning processes related to watersheds, land use, transportation, site development, parks and greenways, and air quality
iii) Support the implementation of high priority, multi-use greenway trails, and
iv) Offer multiple opportunities to educate targeted audiences about the value of sustainable environmental planning.
III. How does this project fit within key discussions about the region’s future?
Community dialogue on three issues provides strong guidance for project activities. First, increasing recognition about the relationships among land use, environmental quality and economic competitiveness have catalyzed high-level discussions about alternative regional outlooks.
Second, local political and civic leadership strongly endorsed MetroGreen, a regional greenway plan to develop more than 1,100 miles of trails. Opportunities to link streamway parks with environmental conservation are ubiquitous.
Last, the high cost of public infrastructure to address flooding and water quality has sparked an interest in more ecologically oriented solutions. Recent estimates of stormwater infrastructure needs alone for the region well exceed $3 billion.
IV. Project methods
GIS analysis
GIS-based work phases included initial data gathering, development of a land classification system, field assessments, and preliminary data interpretation and regional planning. A GIS analysis process was developed to predict the presence and quality of natural resource conditions; the system itself provides an analytical framework to determine specific priorities for future action.
Initial data compilations of basic natural resource information layers were collected from local, state and federal sources, adding up to over one hundred GIS data layers obtained for the eight county region.
Collaborative planning process
A collaborative process was constructed to provide for a high level of exchange among community stakeholders. As in any community planning process, stakeholder participation is crucial to share knowledge, build support, overcome, and ensure long-term success.
Involvement of different interests, from GIS practitioners to ecologists, land planners, developers and policy makers, challenged the process. Discussions focused on various issues, from shared goals and visions to data sharing, project methods, planning opportunities and policy alternatives. A mix of strategies was used to elicit both public and expert involvement to obtain appropriate input at various planning phases.
VI. Initial results
This conservation planning process provides evidence about the reduction in size and quality of natural resources areas. Without resolution, continued loss of resources will continue to pose substantial costs to the region. More important, however, is that the study clearly demonstrates a large number of opportunities and benefits associated with better resource protection. Substantially increased community awareness about environmental stewardship will provide a foundation for future discussions about the role of open space conservation and restoration in the face of rapid land development.
VIII. Conclusions
In metro Kansas City, there is an unmet need for more coherent and integrated natural resource management. The regional inventory process creates a more sophisticated understanding of how this might be accomplished. New data and preliminary plans will create the framework for ongoing regional and local policy, planning and implementation efforts.
Regional planning will continue to capitalize on the impressive number and scope of opportunities for change. These opportunities present themselves in multiple forums and planning contexts, and at multiple geographic scales. At a regional scale, opportunities exist to restore big river corridors, and to influence regional growth patterns through strategic open space conservation. At the local scale, individual development projects and community plans present opportunities to systematically enhance environmental quality.
At a policy level, many strategic openings exist. The planning framework will support the creation of stream buffer ordinances in jurisdictions throughout the region. Implementation of comprehensive, multi-objective land use, open space and watershed protection strategies will be facilitated in various ways, in part through the prioritization of capital improvement programs for public infrastructure. And, regional plans may inform federal wetland permitting processes to better address cumulative watershed-level impacts.
Continuing coordination among project stakeholders is imperative. Increased levels of collaboration among federal, state and local partners will invariably help reconcile existing disconnects in parallel processes. Increased coordination with the private development community also will likely lead to the articulation of shared interests and common goals.