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• 31. [Article] Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan

  In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan Author: Merrick, Meg Year: 2014 In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important strategic goals was the transformation of the Creekside District (an underutilized 50-acre site situated at the heart of the Central City) into a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use community. The Creekside District master planning effort (that was supported by a HUD Community Challenge Grant) has built on the Civic Plan, Beaverton’s Community Vision (2010), the Beaverton Urban Renewal Plan (2011), and Metro’s 2040 Growth Concept. The Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy outlines the investments, projects, and programs that will be needed to transform the District into “a vibrant, mixed-use, transit-oriented downtown neighborhood, where people enjoy easy access to the natural environment, safe and reliable transportation and parking systems, and opportunities for jobs, housing, and entertainment” (Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy, 2014). Central to the Creekside District master planning process was the engagement of the current business owners and residents in and immediately surrounding the District – in other words, those who will be most directly impacted by the plan. Additionally, recognizing that a significant number of the small business owners and residents who would be affected are racial and ethnic minorities, the City put special emphasis on engaging these typically underrepresented groups in the planning process. The purpose of this report is to assess how well the public input, that was gathered throughout the Creekside District master planning process, has been considered and incorporated into the Creekside District Master Plan. Specifically, this report focuses on the findings of the outreach efforts directed at those most directly impacted by changes to the Creekside District: business owners within the District; residents in and adjacent to the District; and minority community leaders and youth. Following public engagement best practices, the City sought input from these stakeholders early in the planning process to gain a better understanding of how the District does and doesn’t work for them, as well as stakeholders’ hopes for its future. Beginning in the fall, 2012, Beaverton planners conducted a Creekside District mobility audit with transportation planners, representation from the disability community, and pedestrian advocates to get a better understanding of the barriers to mobility, access, and transportation generally within the District. The results of this audit were integrated into the City’s existing conditions analysis. Title: Informing the Plan - Incorporating Stakeholder Hopes, Dreams, and Concerns: An Assessment of the Creekside District Master Plan Author: Merrick, Meg Year: 2014 In April 2011, the City of Beaverton adopted its Civic Plan Central City Strategy (“the Civic Plan”). The Civic Plan provided a new understanding of the Central City. One of the Civic Plan’s most important strategic goals was the transformation of the Creekside District (an underutilized 50-acre site situated at the heart of the Central City) into a vibrant, sustainable, mixed-use community. The Creekside District master planning effort (that was supported by a HUD Community Challenge Grant) has built on the Civic Plan, Beaverton’s Community Vision (2010), the Beaverton Urban Renewal Plan (2011), and Metro’s 2040 Growth Concept. The Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy outlines the investments, projects, and programs that will be needed to transform the District into “a vibrant, mixed-use, transit-oriented downtown neighborhood, where people enjoy easy access to the natural environment, safe and reliable transportation and parking systems, and opportunities for jobs, housing, and entertainment” (Creekside District Master Plan and Implementation Strategy, 2014). Central to the Creekside District master planning process was the engagement of the current business owners and residents in and immediately surrounding the District – in other words, those who will be most directly impacted by the plan. Additionally, recognizing that a significant number of the small business owners and residents who would be affected are racial and ethnic minorities, the City put special emphasis on engaging these typically underrepresented groups in the planning process. The purpose of this report is to assess how well the public input, that was gathered throughout the Creekside District master planning process, has been considered and incorporated into the Creekside District Master Plan. Specifically, this report focuses on the findings of the outreach efforts directed at those most directly impacted by changes to the Creekside District: business owners within the District; residents in and adjacent to the District; and minority community leaders and youth. Following public engagement best practices, the City sought input from these stakeholders early in the planning process to gain a better understanding of how the District does and doesn’t work for them, as well as stakeholders’ hopes for its future. Beginning in the fall, 2012, Beaverton planners conducted a Creekside District mobility audit with transportation planners, representation from the disability community, and pedestrian advocates to get a better understanding of the barriers to mobility, access, and transportation generally within the District. The results of this audit were integrated into the City’s existing conditions analysis. Close

• 32. [Article] Relationships Between Environmental Governance and Water Quality in a Growing Metropolitan Area of the Pacific Northwest, USA

  We investigate relationships between environmental governance and water quality in two adjacent growing metropolitan areas in the western US. While the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington metro ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Relationships Between Environmental Governance and Water Quality in a Growing Metropolitan Area of the Pacific Northwest, USA Author: Chang, Heejun, Thiers, Paul R., Netusil, Noelwah R., Yeakley, J. Alan, Rollwagen-Bollens, Gretchen, Bollens, Steve, Singh, Sonia Year: 2014 We investigate relationships between environmental governance and water quality in two adjacent growing metropolitan areas in the western US. While the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington metro areas share many common biophysical characteristics, they have different land development histories and water governance structures, providing a unique opportunity for examining how differences in governance might affect environmental quality. We conceptualize possible linkages in which water quality influences governance directly, using monitoring efforts as a metric, and indirectly by using the change in the sale price of single-family residential properties. Governance may then influence water quality directly through riparian restoration resulting from monitoring results and indirectly through land use policy.We investigate evidence to substantiate these linkages. Our results showed that changes in monitoring regimes and land development patterns differed in response to differences in growth management policy and environmental governance systems. Our results also showed similarities in environmental quality responses to varying governance systems. For example, we found that sales prices responded positively to improved water quality (e.g., increases in DO and reductions in bacteria counts) in both cities. Furthermore, riparian restoration efforts improved over time for both cities, indicating the positive effect of governance on this land-based resource that may result in improved water quality. However, as of yet, there were no substantial differences across study areas in water temperature over time, despite an expansion of these urban areas of more than 20%over 24 years. The mechanisms by which water quality was maintained was similar in the sense that both cities benefited from riparian restoration, but different in the sense that Portland benefited indirectly from land use policy. A combination of long-term legacy effects of land development, and a relatively short history of riparian restoration in both the Portland and Vancouver regions, may have masked any subtle differences between study areas. An alternative explanation is that both cities exhibited combinations of positive indirect and direct water quality governance that resulted in maintenance of water quality in the face of increased urban growth. These findings suggest that a much longer-term water quality monitoring effort is needed to identify the effectiveness of alternative land development and water governance policies Title: Relationships Between Environmental Governance and Water Quality in a Growing Metropolitan Area of the Pacific Northwest, USA Author: Chang, Heejun, Thiers, Paul R., Netusil, Noelwah R., Yeakley, J. Alan, Rollwagen-Bollens, Gretchen, Bollens, Steve, Singh, Sonia Year: 2014 We investigate relationships between environmental governance and water quality in two adjacent growing metropolitan areas in the western US. While the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington metro areas share many common biophysical characteristics, they have different land development histories and water governance structures, providing a unique opportunity for examining how differences in governance might affect environmental quality. We conceptualize possible linkages in which water quality influences governance directly, using monitoring efforts as a metric, and indirectly by using the change in the sale price of single-family residential properties. Governance may then influence water quality directly through riparian restoration resulting from monitoring results and indirectly through land use policy.We investigate evidence to substantiate these linkages. Our results showed that changes in monitoring regimes and land development patterns differed in response to differences in growth management policy and environmental governance systems. Our results also showed similarities in environmental quality responses to varying governance systems. For example, we found that sales prices responded positively to improved water quality (e.g., increases in DO and reductions in bacteria counts) in both cities. Furthermore, riparian restoration efforts improved over time for both cities, indicating the positive effect of governance on this land-based resource that may result in improved water quality. However, as of yet, there were no substantial differences across study areas in water temperature over time, despite an expansion of these urban areas of more than 20%over 24 years. The mechanisms by which water quality was maintained was similar in the sense that both cities benefited from riparian restoration, but different in the sense that Portland benefited indirectly from land use policy. A combination of long-term legacy effects of land development, and a relatively short history of riparian restoration in both the Portland and Vancouver regions, may have masked any subtle differences between study areas. An alternative explanation is that both cities exhibited combinations of positive indirect and direct water quality governance that resulted in maintenance of water quality in the face of increased urban growth. These findings suggest that a much longer-term water quality monitoring effort is needed to identify the effectiveness of alternative land development and water governance policies Close