City of Woodstock The Greenprints Project www.thegreenprintsproject.com Comprehensive Park, Trail

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Building Green Infrastructure to Attract Quality
Investments
Shannon Kettering, ASLA, AICP, Vice
PresidentEcos Environmental Design, Inc. MEAG
Economic Development Forum April 2009
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What Makes a Community?
Three Levels of Community Infrastructure Gray
Infrastructure
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What Makes a Community?
Three Levels of Community Infrastructure Social
Infrastructure
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What Makes a Community?
Three Levels of Community Infrastructure Green
Infrastructure
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What Makes a Community?
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What Is Green Infrastructure?

• Necessity just like Gray, Social, Soft
  Infrastructure
• Integrates land protection, development
  practices, and infrastructure planning
• Strategically planned and locally managed
  networks of trails and protected greenspace with
  multiple purposes.
• Interconnected network of land and water that
  contributes to the health and quality of life of
  its residents.

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• Economic Development
• Recreation, Health and Fitness
• Alternative Transportation
• Floodplain and Watershed Management
• Water and Air Quality Improvement
• Stewardship and Restoration
• Historic and Cultural Preservation
• Plant and Wildlife Habitat
• Educational Curriculum
• Social Opportunities

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• Provides potential economic generator for local
  government through increased value to properties.
• Parks, open spaces and trails have shown to
  bolster property values
• Homebuyers are willing to pay more for land
  adjacent to protected greenspace- as much as 33
  percent Consider the following examples
• Boulder, Colorado Value homes increased 32 if
  located adjacent to greenway trail
• Portland, Oregon Homes within ¼ mile walking
  distance of open space on average accounted for
  16 of sale price
• Austin, Texas Homes adjacent to greenway trail
  sold at 20 premium.

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• Provides less expensive tax burden to local
  government.
• For every 1.00 generated by residential land use
  tax revenues , 1.24-2.26 is required in
  community services (i.e. government expenses,
  such as garbage collection, schools, libraries,
  etc.)
• To the contrary, for every 1.00 generated by
  farms, forest lands, and greenspaces in tax
  revenues , only .20-.36 is required in
  community services

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• For the State
• Georgia Land Conservation Act
• Legislation that established funding available
  to local governments and the Georgia Department
  of Natural Resources (DNR) for the purchase of
  conservation lands.
• Seeks to protect 20 of the states greenspace.

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• For the Region
• Atlanta Regional Commissions Envision 6 Regional
  Development Plan
• Outlines open space
• and preservation policies
• for environmentally
• sensitive areas,
• landscapes and historic
• sites throughout the
• 20-county metropolitan
• area that are threatened
• by development.

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• Places a more balanced focus on BOTH growth areas
  and conservation areas
• Focuses on sustaining rural landscapes for many
  different uses that can benefit the entire
  community
• Encourages resource-based economies

Credit Yaro, 1988
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Why Green Infrastructure?

• More growth based and competitive among
  localities
• Often loses Sense of Place
• Struggle between expanding and serving beyond
  natural borders
• Looks spatially at how the community can
  accommodate more growth, yet does so in the very
  areas that it should be protecting highlighting

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Why Green Infrastructure?

• What does it look like?
• How do I know that I have?
• And, what do I do with it?

Credit Farr Associates, 2008
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Building Green Infrastructure
Regional Initiative Tourism, Resource
Protection and Mobility
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ARABIA MOUNTAIN HERITAGE AREA
ATLANTA
CITY OF LITHONIA
INTERSTATE-20
ST. MT. PARK
SOUTH RIVER
PANOLA MOUNTAIN STATE PARK
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Building Green Infrastructure
A Heritage Area is a region in which residents,
businesses, and governments join together to
preserve, promote, and celebrate their heritage,
culture, and natural resources for the benefit of
current and future generations.
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Focus Areas

• Gateways

• Central Visitor Center

• Themed Routes

• Significant interpretive
• venues (I.e. churches,
• cemeteries, structures,
• waterways)

• Other venues outside
• the focus areas

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Building Green Infrastructure
Proposed Existing PATH Multi-use Trails
Schools
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
Metropolitan Initiative Transit, Trails and
Trees

• The Atlanta BeltLine and The BeltLine Arboretum
  A Unique Opportunity
• for Atlanta

Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Green Infrastructure becomes the unifying theme
  for all aspects of the Beltline
• transit
• trail
• economic development
• community

Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure
Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Provides many volunteer and educational
  opportunities for elementary, high school, and
  university students, as well as residents and
  visitors.

Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure
Metropolitan Scale Transportation Planning
Educational signage
Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure
Metropolitan Scale Transportation Planning
Tree identification
Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure
Metropolitan Scale Transportation Planning
Opportunity to incorporate art into environmental
education demonstrations
Images courtesy of Trees Atlanta
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Building Green Infrastructure
Metropolitan Scale Transportation Planning
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The BeltLine Arboretum Vision-The Arboretum will
be a success when every one in Atlanta can
identify their neighborhoods by the trees that
surround them and therefore understand the value
of trees in the urban environment.
Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
Local Initiative Comprehensive Planning
Identifying Conservation BEFORE Growth
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Emphasis is placed on the marketability
  improved livability of greenspace and the
  opportunity of rural landscapes economies, i.e.
  Tourism
• Development patterns are clustered and
  surrounded by green infrastructure

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Building Green Infrastructure

• Resource Based Economic Development
• Seize sustainable opportunities
• Connect to the community values
• Revenue/ Services ratio
• Growth is possible by controlling the scale, form
  and location of desirable development types

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Building Green Infrastructure
City Initiative Parks, Open Spaces and Trails

• City of Woodstock Greenprints Project
• Located 50 Miles north of Atlanta
• Encompasses 7,170 acres
• Adjacent to Lake Allatoona

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Building Green Infrastructure

• Current Population 19,949
• Has nearly doubled since 2000
• Projected to increase by 2.5 to 3 times by 2032

1960
2006
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Building Green Infrastructure
PHASE I Collection
PHASE II Goals
Determine Benefits Trends
Inventory Analyze Resources
Establish Vision, Goals Criteria
Determine Community Priorities
PHASE III Implementation
Develop a range/ variety of strategies/tools
Identify implementation maintenance
prioritization, strategies financing
Recommend model design standards
Community Resource Based Process
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Building Green Infrastructure

• For the County
• Cherokee County Greenspace Protection
• Program
• Outlines a strategy for promoting the permanent
  protection of greenspace amounting to at least
  20 of county land over the next 10 years
• County Recreation Parks
• Authority Master Plan
• identifies potential open
• space and trails, to create a
• network throughout the
• county.

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Building Green Infrastructure

• For the City
• Draft Community Agenda for the 2008 Comprehensive
  Development Plan Update
• Identifies the need for balance between the
  built and natural environment
• Advocates the integration of green
  infrastructure and green architecture into the
  fabric of development
• Recommends future development to provide
  appropriate private and public open spaces at
  different scales and purposes.

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Building Green Infrastructure
Cultural Resources
Utilities
Landforms
Hydrology
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
VISION A Sustainable Greenspace and Trail
Network that defines and enhances the City of
Woodstocks community, natural and economic
resources for all generations.
GOAL Protect Natural and Cultural Resources
GOAL Improve Air and Water Quality
GOAL Provide Connectivity for People and Wildlife
GOAL Create Diverse Places for Improved Health
CRITERIA
CRITERIA
CRITERIA
CRITERIA
park gap analysis
utility, riparian, roadway corridors
wetlands
riparian corridors
committee feedback
committee feedback
historic/ archeological sites
wetlands
landforms
soils
undeveloped land Public owned land
floodplains
floodplains
trees/ forested land
undeveloped land
floodplains
slope
slope
slope
wetlands
soils
undeveloped, future preserve land
riparian corridors
landforms
water bodies
riparian corridors
trees/ forested land
water access
floodplains
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Building Green Infrastructure
Greenspace and Connectivity Deficiencies
Unit Need Locational Need Neighborhood
Greenspaces 106 acres West, SW, SE Community
Greenspaces 162 acres West, SW, SE Corridor
Greenspaces 25 miles South Multi Use
Trails 18 miles All Specialized Trails 5
miles Within key spaces
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Community Survey- Respondents Support
• More greenways passive parks
• Preserve natural resources
• More biking walking trails
• Connectivity to residences, parks other
  regional trails
• Restrictions on use/ development where
  conservation recreation needs are high priority
• Collaborations with developers on implementation
• Options for funding, such as SPLOST-special
  purpose local option sales tax, general
  obligation bond / bond referendum user fees

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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure

• Steering Committee Design Workshop
• Using the composite priorities map as a
  foundation, the group creates alternative open
  space and trail systems

Alternative Concept 1
Alternative Concept 2
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
Downtown Depot Greenway Approx. length 2.9
mi. Approx. cost 1.8 mil.
Towne Lake Pass Approx. length 3.2 mi. Approx.
cost 1.5 mil.
Old Rope Mill Trail Approx. length 2.5
mi. Approx. cost 1.2 mil.
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Building Green Infrastructure
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Building Green Infrastructure
Conclusion You Have it, Now go out and use it!
The protection of land is an expression of faith
in the future it is a pact between
generations - The Conservation Fund
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Shannon Kettering, ASLA, AICP, Vice
PresidentEcos Environmental Design, Inc. MEAG
Economic Development Forum April 2009
www.ecosdesign.com