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The University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System’s
Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials Project (NEMO)

Session: Assessing Development-Related Water Quality Impacts

April 17, 1:00 PM

Laurie Giannotti, AICP

Also from this session:

Is Density Good for Water Quality?

ABSTRACT: Nonpoint source pollution is generated by land use. Land use decisions nationally are made at the local level by municipal decision-makers and landowners. Recognizing this, The University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension System’s NEMO Project is based on the conviction that reduction of polluted runoff is best achieved through informed land use decisions at the local level. Municipal boards and commissions are educated on the basic principles of nonpoint source pollution, the various options available to address nonpoint source issues, and the connections between these options and other vital community issues like economic growth and community character.

Since 1991 The CT NEMO Project has been helping land use decision-makers understand what nonpoint source pollution is and how they can manage it. With the success of the educational effort, demand for assistance with implementing the various NPS management techniques promoted by the NEMO Project increased. To meet this demand, The CT Municipal Initiative was born. The Initiative allows the CT NEMO Team to focus its resources on at most five municipalities working with them from education through to implementation. This following is a summary of the process and its successes in CT.

NEMO Approach

The NEMO Project (http://www.nemo.uconn.edu) was created in 1991-1992 as a collaboration between 3 branches of the University of Connecticut: the Cooperative Extension System, the Natural Resources Management and Engineering Department, and the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program. By about 1995, colleagues in other states began to express interest in adapting NEMO, and our National work was initiated. In 1997 the CT Program was bolstered through this collaboration with The CT DEP. In 1999, both the Connecticut and National efforts got a technical shot in the arm from the formation of the NAUTILUS Regional Earth Sciences Applications Center, a partnership between NEMO and the Laboratory for Earth Resources Information Systems (LERIS) remote sensing lab at UConn. At present (circa 2002), NEMO has worked with over two-thirds of the 169 municipalities in Connecticut, and the National NEMO Network has funded projects in 22 states. NEMO staff conducts about 150 educational workshops a year. Visit http://www.nemo.uconn.edu/about.htm for a more detailed history.

The NEMO Project is based on the conviction that reduction of polluted runoff is best achieved through informed land use decisions at the local level. NEMO’s goal is to help municipalities understand natural resource based planning and how to implement it through:

  1. their administration of landuse (for example separating commissions to enable them to focus or initiating joint commission meetings during which they discuss water resource protection);
  2. conducting a through natural resource inventory as a first step to anything that may follow so that they understand what they have and why they are protecting or developing areas of their municipality;
  3. their planning documents be they for Conservation &Development, Open Space, Economic Development, Watershed or Aquifer Protection.
  4. their regulations which form the basis for encouraging alternative site design techniques;
  5. and their policies which can include road sanding procedures, ordinances specifying how roads and/or driveways should be built, catch basin and detention/retention pond maintenance.

At the heart of the process outlined above are educational programs researched, developed and delivered, by NEMO’s professional outreach Educators. The menu of programs is shown in Figure 1 (see nemo.uconn.edu under the Programs Tab for detailed descriptions of the programs). Although NEMO targets municipal officials we recognize the importance of private property stewardship in NPS management and have partnered with CT Sea Grant and UConn’s Forestry Program to provide programs and technical support for homeowners and large lot forest owners.

Figure 1 – NEMO Educational Program Topics

When a town contacts the NEMO Project they are encouraged to engage in the full natural resource based planning process. However, the municipalities needs take precedence and many times they work through the process in their own order with the NEMO Team over long periods of time. Details of implementation are included on NEMO’s website under the Programs In Action Tab.

NEMO provides support through the process in the form of educational programs, guidance documents (fact sheets, publications, CD’s), Internet tools, GIS and RS technology, consultation via telephone or meetings, and occasionally review of documents or regulations they may be updating to insure that the NPS management strategies promoted by the NEMO Project are incorporated. The NEMO Project does not write regulations, produce planning documents, review site plans, testify at public hearings or provide GIS mapping services.

With the success of CT NEMO a National Network of NEMO Projects has developed over the last three years. NEMO’s National Network is a confederation of projects around the country dedicated to the protection of natural resources through better land use. Network projects are diverse in their topical focus, but share three common elements: they are EDUCATIONAL programs; the programs are centered on LAND USE; the projects use TECHNOLOGY to assist in the delivery of the message. Please visit http://www.nemo.uconn.edu/new_natl/index.htm for details and information on how to begin your own NEMO Project.

The Connecticut Municipal Initiative
Municipalities Working to Protect Water Resources

Since 1991 The CT NEMO Project has been helping land use decision-makers understand what nonpoint source pollution is and how they can manage it. With the success of the educational effort, demand for assistance with implementing the various NPS management techniques promoted by the NEMO Project increased. The CT Municipal Initiative (The Initiative) allows the CT NEMO Team to focus its resources on at most five municipalities working with them from education through to implementation.

One goal of The Initiative is to get municipalities to commit to the process of natural resource based planning which includes:

  1. Their administration of landuse (for example separating commissions to enable them to focus or initiating joint commission meetings during which they discuss water resource protection);
  2. Conducting a through natural resource inventory so that they understand what they have and why they are protecting or developing areas of their municipality;
  3. Incorporating their NRI in their planning documents in addition to other water resource protection techniques whether they are planning for Conservation &Development, Open Space, Economic Development, Watershed or Aquifer Protection.
  4. Tying their regulations into their plans giving them teeth and forming the basis for encouraging alternative site design techniques;
  5. And developing town policies, which can include road-sanding procedures, ordinances specifying how roads and/or driveways should be built, catch basin and detention/retention pond maintenance.

A second goal of The Initiative is to provide models (lighten our work load!) for other CT municipalities as well as other states, through the work of the National NEMO Network.To select up to five municipalities the following criteria were employed:

  1. One municipality per major drainage basin. If 2 or more municipalities apply from one major drainage basin, the successful town will be the one willing to incorporate water resource protection within the most areas listed in #2 below. Essentially the municipality most willing to fully participate in the process of natural resource based planning.
  2. Municipalities willing to incorporate NEMO’s strategies to protect natural resources/reduce impervious surfaces into one or more of the following:
    - natural resources inventory,
    - plan of C&D
    - zoning regulations,
    - subdivision regulations,
    - road standards,
  3. The establishment of a NEMO Task Force (NTF) committed to working with The NEMO Team to achieve implementation. The NTF must at a minimum include: planning, zoning, inland wetlands, conservation, board of selectman or CEO and must designate a contact person.
  4. Municipal projects that satisfy 1-3 above and have potential to serve as a model to other CT municipalities as well as NEMO’s National Network.

Progress Reports from CT Municipal Initiative Participants

Greenwich

  • Plan of Conservation and Development (C&D) Plan – revisiting to incorporate NEMO Principles (Appendix C).*
  • Open Space Plan – NEMO Team currently reviewing document to prepare for public hearing set for April 2002.*
  • Watershed Management Plan - revisiting to incorporate NEMO Principles.*
  • Amendments to Earth Moving Regulations - revised to address lots smaller than1/2 acre.

*Future implementation is likely to include the completion of these items in addition to an impervious surface build out analysis, which will then be folded into the planning and regulatory documents.

Woodstock

  • Natural Resources Inventory Completed
  • Open Space Plan Adopted 2001 – The NEMO Task Force is currently working on using their NRI and open space plan goals to develop an open space plan map (Figure 2).
  • Planning & Zoning Commission has asked Conservation Commission to review subdivision applications that have an open space set aside for compliance with their Open Space Plan.
  • C&D plan – considering incorporating open space plan and NEMO Principles*.
  • Considering updates to wetland buffers. NEMO’s “Wet Lands” workshop was used to kick off the process.

*Future implementation is likely to include the completion of these items in addition to a workshop for Public Works that will move into an assessment of their road standards.

Figure 2 – Draft Woodstock Open Space Plan Map

Salem

  • NRI completed.
  • Open Space Plan – the Town is in the process of folding the NRI into the plan and expects that it will be completed by summer 2002*.
  • Plan of C&D – The Town has completed its POCD and is in the process of implementation*.
  • Zoning Regulations – the Town is considering adopting “net buildable area” and incorporating other NEMO principles allowing for alternatives.
  • Subdivision Regulations - Tom Worthley, Extension Forester held a workshop about forestry practices and logging on September 12, 2001 as a first step toward
  • Road Standards – The Town is considering alternative standards*.

*Future implementation is likely to include the completion of these items in addition to a NEMO workshop on Economic Development, and Aquifer Protection (this will be developed with the CT DEP) planning to move forward with these planning efforts.

Old Saybrook

Old Saybrook has been working with the NEMO Team since 1991. They have had much success but over the two years, with the addition of a full time, in house planner and the creation of their NEMO Task Force (Figure 3) they have made great progress.

  • Natural Resource Inventory close to completion*.
  • Open Space Plan* – The Town is working with the NEMO Team to incorporate NRI information.
  • POCD - The Planning & Zoning Commission is updating its plan and will be considering incorporating NPS management strategies.
  • Road Ordinance* - Members of the Task Force are working with the Town Engineer and others to revise the ordinance to allow for alternative storm water management practices that are more in line with CT DEP/EPA’s Phase II Storm Water Management Program. (Appendix D)
  • Town Policy - Their Board of Selectman drafted a Policy Statement that incorporates NPS management strategies promoted by NEMO in addition to alternative design standards for site development. (Appendix E)
  • Zoning/Subdivision - The Planning & Zoning Commission in collaboration with The NEMO Task Force, Town Engineer and local Developer have implemented a “model subdivision” in town that incorporates vegetated stormwater management practices, narrow road widths and clustering to manage NPS pollution. P&Z is also updating its zoning to incorporate impervious surface limits in their business districts in order to minimize impacts from NPS to their coastal resources and Long Island Sound.

*Future implementation is likely to include the completion of these items in addition to the development of a couple of new educational programs: Site Plan Review to support Natural Resource Based Planning and Coastal Resource Protection (this is being funded partially under an EPA grant in collaboration with OLISP and The Nature Conservancy).

Figure 3 - Old Saybrook’s NEMO Task Force at a model subdivision in Town.

Derby

  • The Naugatuck Valley Brownfields Pilot, after NEMO educational programs and follow-up in 2000-2001 have “…required review for inclusion of design components that reduce the impacts of impervious surfaces in any project that accepts Pilot assessment funds.”
  • Regional Plan Update - The Valley Regional Planning Agency is updating its regional plan to incorporate NPS management strategies. The NEMO Team is working with the RPA’s planning consultant to this end. The process involves first updating the individual municipal plans and then the regional plan. The first town to complete its update is Beacon Falls, which has incorporated NPS management, practice guidelines promoted by NEMO (see Figure 4). *
  • Zoning Regulations – Derby’s P&Z is considering incorporating NEMO’s management strategies*.
  • The Pilot is working with the NEMO Team and the Mayor of Derby to help the City’s Recreation Commission can incorporate NPS management strategies (see Down to Earth’s Information Bulletin drafted for the Mayor in Appendix F.*

*Future implementation is likely to include the completion of these items.

Figure 4- Excerpt from Beacon Falls POCD

 

Author and Copyright Information

Copyright 2002 by author


Laurie Giannotti, AICP is the CT NEMO Coordinator and can be reached at: lgiannot@canr.uconn.edu or (860) 345-4511. Details on The NEMO Project can be found at http://www.nemo.uconn.edu.