Environmental Consultation Peer Review

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Environmental Consultation Peer Review
Early Collaboration and Data Sharing Pikes Peak
Area Council of Governments Tools and Process for
Strategic Assessment
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Environmental Consultation Peer Review
Thanks to FHWA for funding Along with
placeways
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PURPOSE
Develop a Strategic Multi-Criteria Assessment
Process to facilitate Adaptive Planning
Processes The tools to evaluate or forecast
progress towards goals must be available and
rigorous. Cross discipline acknowledgement of
rigor is necessary for buy-in.
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PURPOSE
Diagonal Collaboration
Federal
State
Regional
Local
Project
Air Quality Transport Land Use Economic Develop
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Setting
The Pikes Peak Area COG is responsible for
transportation, military impact, air quality, and
water quality planning, along with administering
a one-cent sales tax for transportation and
demographic and economic forecasting.
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Setting

• PPACG is involved in several other disconnected
  but related efforts that staff desires to
  harmonize, including
• MPO Regional Transportation Plan
• Pikes Peak Sustainability Indicators
• Fountain Creek Watershed Crown Jewel
• Ft Carson Regional Growth Plan

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Setting
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Setting
El Paso
Pueblo
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Setting
Percent Growth 2005-2035 Pueblo County 54 El
Paso County 66 Combined 64 Colorado
34.7 U.S. 33.7
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Level of Analysis
Percent Growth 2005-2035 Pueblo County 54 El
Paso County 66 Combined 64 Colorado
34.7 U.S. 33.7
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BASELINE
placeways
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BASELINE

• Determine compatibility of land-uses with
  long-term viability of indicator species
• Fifty-nine Indicator Species Chosen
• 23 plants
• 12 mammals
• 10 birds
• 5 insects
• 3 fish
• 3 reptiles
• 2 amphibians
• 1 mollusk

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BASELINE

• 15 of 59 have current long-term viability
  conflicts Four (4) candidate species found in
  the region have no viable habitat left in the
  region.

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Forecast Future

• Three Future Land-use Scenarios Developed
• Business as Usual (TELUM)
• Conservation
• Enhanced Transportation

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Business as Usual Growth
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Baseline vrs Business as Usual
placeways
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Baseline vrs Business as Usual
29 species have long-term viability conflicts
with the current land-use plans in the region.
Other goals unmet.
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Conservation

• 91,000 acres
• Land selected in order to meet conservation goals

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Conservation
Development leap-frogs protected lands,
resulting in changing species that are impacted,
not enhancing conservation. 28 Species have
long-term viability conflicts Other goals unmet.
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Enhanced Transportation
Using information from transportation planning
roundtables expressing desire for more transit,
existing multi-use overlay zoning and planned BRT
routes, increase density along proposed routes to
level FTA suggests is needed to make transit a
viable transportation mode.
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Enhanced Transportation
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Enhanced Transportation
28 species have long-term viability
conflicts. Other goals met.
placeways
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Lessons Learned

• Some successes and some failures
• More data and information shared resulting in
  enhanced Fountain Creek Mitigation
• Pristine Site Bull-dozed

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Summary
This process and information proactively
highlight potentially future issues and allows
incorporation of the issues early by cognizant
agencies. Iterative reevaluation by diagonal
agencies should become a standard practice.
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Other Findings
Institutional and political barriers to
collaboration between diagonal agencies are
difficult to overcome. Accumulated stressors
and effects from previous activities will be
exposed, so How should a transportation agency
communicate this information to the agencies
causing or receiving the impacts? Should some
constraint on new actions of other agencies be
recommended in order to reduce or mitigate
impacts? If we dont then how can a rational
planned future ever be realized? Can consent for
an action be denied because it could set a
precedent that over time would result in an
unwelcome future?
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Summary recommendations
1) Develop a comprehensive resource database
2) Establish measurable goals and benchmarks
against which to evaluate the effects of actions
3) Initiate / improve intergovernmental
coordination 4) Collaborate to develop
life-cycle causal chains of effects resulting
from past, present, and foreseeable actions.
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2005 Households
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2035 Households