NEPA IN PLANNING

1
NEPA IN PLANNING

• Chuck Chappell
• Wasatch Front Regional Council
• AMPO Conference
• October 2005

2
Introduction

• Purpose - Identify NEPA concepts applicable in
  the planning process
• Who Chuck Chappell, George Ramjoue and Val
  Halford, WFRC

3
Context

• SAFETEA-LU
• USDOT NEPA in Planning Guidance
• NHI NEPA in Planning Workshop
• Visioning Process, varies land use
• UrbanSim model tool
• MVC Corridor EIS
• NEPA documents challenged

4
Topics of Discussion

• Adjust land-use/socioeconomic in the local
  general plans
• Couple land-use and transportation systems
  alternatives
• Goals and objectives for corridors
• Fatal flaw advisory
• Get resource agencies involved
• Locate potential mitigation sites

5
Land-Use

• Property owners and local government control land
  use
• Varying land-use adds a new dimension
• Analyze significantly different land-use and
  transportation scenarios

6
Land-Use (cont)

• Provides indirect and cumulative analysis on
  regional scale
• Helps disclosure in NEPA
• Introduces LDPA under CWA
• Fix land-use for RTP

7
Goals and Objectives

• Logical that Purpose and Need defined in planning
  process
• Mentioned in guidance and law
• Examples from participants?

8
Fatal Flaw Analysis

• Resource data at planning
• GIS tools, layers
• Planning could expose weaknesses?
• Example politically driven projects

9
Other Recommendations

• NEPA training for planners
• Resource agencies involvement in planning

10
What This Means

• State DOTs are vulnerable
• Planning can identify and solve some flaws only
  if
• MPOs study NEPA and adjust
• State DOTs gain confidence in MPOs
• MPOs produce credible and timely analysis

11
Next Steps

• Continue varying land use through scenario work,
  then fix
• Define goals and objectives for corridors in
  first phase of RTP
• Identify potential FF, but carefully
• Host an attractive workshop for resource agency
• Look for potential mitigation sites