Improving Land Use in the Lake Erie Basin through Better Planning, Regulations, and Stormwater Modeling

Chagrin River Watershed, Ohio

Local decisions about development, land use, and stormwater management can impact an entire watershed. Yet, these decisions are often made with one site in mind. Municipal governments, their advisors, and the engineering community often lack the technical capacity and information necessary to manage land use and water quality in a broader context.

With CICEET support, a project team led by the Chagrin River Watershed Partners is working with communities in the Chagrin River watershed located in the Lake Erie Basin of Ohio to implement an effective approach to incorporating the best available resource data into local comprehensive plans. The project is based on the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Balanced Growth Initiative (BGI), which seeks to link land use practices and state policies to water quality in Lake Erie and its tributaries.

The Chagrin River watershed will serve as a pilot site to implement recommendations made by the BGI. Project team members from the Chagrin River Watershed Partners and Ohio Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO) will disseminate the results and provide training on the methodologies developed through this pilot to communities throughout the Lake Erie Basin.