Progress Report

CICEET Progress Report for the period 3/01/08 Through 8/31/08

Project Title: Collaborative Learning and Land Use Tools to support Community Based Ecosystem Management
Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Christine Feurt
Project Start Date: November 2007
Report compiled by: Christine Feurt

Tier I of the project will apply land use technologies including geospatial tools and visualization technology to the development of a Conservation and Preservation Land Use Plan for Sanford, Maine.

Project Objectives for This Reporting Period
1. As a consequence of applying geospatial tools, predictive models, and visualization technology, in the context of planning processes using Collaborative Learning, municipal decision makers in Sanford will understand and discuss spatial and temporal aspects of land use decisions that relate to the sustainability of water resources, habitat and biodiversity identified as valuable by the community.

The agenda for the first workshop is included below to illustrate the project’s orientation to stakeholder engagement. During this workshop, participants generated a 50 year conservation vision for the town. This information was coded and used to generate the layers for the Community Viz activity used in Workshop # 2.

Workshop #1 April 5, 2008
This workshop is the first of three planned to develop a Conservation Plan for Sanford. Workshops are planned for May 17 and September 9.

Objectives for the April 5th Workshop include:

  1. Participants will understand the overall goal of the planning process to produce a Conservation Plan that complements Sanford’s Comprehensive Plan.
  2. Participants will understand the connections among the project partners, the scope of the grant funding the project and their role and time commitment to the process.
  3. Participants will understand the role of innovative land use planning technology (Community VIZ) that will be used in the development of the Sanford Conservation Plan.
  4. Participants and the Steering Committee will recognize the diversity of viewpoints represented by participants.
  5. Participants will identify conservation and land use values important to guide conservation efforts in Sanford.
  6. Participants will understand and provide input into the project timeline, including additional events or activities that support plan development.
  7. The Steering Committee will capture participant ideas and concerns about the planning process and the scope of Sanford’s Conservation Plan to guide subsequent meetings and to report to the Sanford Town Council.

Workshop #2 May 29
Community Viz and Value Voting for Conservation Priorities

Using the conservation vision priorities identified during the first workshop, the Steering Committee generated GIS layers to map the places in the town where the values identified by stakeholders occurred. Layers included scenic and recreation, water quality, wildlife habitat, health and safety features, and land productivity. The creation of the GIS map layers was documented by the steering committee and will be part of the final plan as well as being used in future trainings designed to spread the lessons learned from this project.

Stakeholders participated in a Value Voting Exercise to prioritize conservation areas in the town. The Steering Committee created “Sanford Money” with locally relevant photos on the bills. Each stakeholder was given a budget of $100,000 to spend on the five categories. The results of the value voting appear below.

Category            % of Total Received Wildlife habitat            19 Water Quality            29 Scenic and Recreation            20 Land Productivity            22 Health & Safety            10

The value voting percentages were used with Community Viz to adjust the GIS maps to reflect stakeholder priorities. Stakeholder decision-making related to value voting was captured on comment sheets and through an evaluation conducted using key pad poling. Stakeholder comments on the first round of maps were recorded for use in map revisions. Process evaluation questions developed for the first workshop were repeated for the second workshop. The data from the value voting and key pad polling will be analyzed as part of the final report for this project.

Workshop #3, September 9, Review of Final Maps
During the final workshop the GIS map layers adjusted for comments from the second workshop and updates from regional and local data layers were presented to the group. Stakeholders participated in a dialogue about conservation strategies and mechanisms that would work in the town of Sanford to protect areas of significant value identified on the maps. Stakeholder input will be used to develop the implementation recommendations for the final plan.

2. Using products generated by land use planning tools, the Comprehensive Plan and other resources, Planning Board members, land trust members, municipal staff and other citizens will develop a Conservation and Preservation Land Use Plan. The plan will identify opportunities for mutually beneficial regional collaboration on land use issues and consider appropriate strategies such as zoning; ordinance development and transfer of development rights to achieve plan goals. These aspects of the plan will be developed by the Steering Committee based upon values and priorities identified during the April ­ September, 2008 period of the project.

3. Collaborative Learning will facilitate municipal efforts to identify ways to incorporate resource protection strategies into economic development decisions. Including relevant stakeholders, providing multiple opportunities and venues for collaboration and implementing a transparent process for developing the Conservation and Preservation Land Use Plan for Sanford, will accomplish this.

Collaborative Meetings: Practices and principles of Collaborative Learning have been applied during three stakeholder workshops conducted April 5th, May 29th and September 9th. The three workshops were planned and evaluated by the project Steering Committee during meetings held on April 15th, May 22nd, June 4th, July 31st and August 18th. Additionally, each workshop was evaluated by participants. The minutes of each workshop and steering committee meeting were shared in draft form with participants, corrections were made and minutes became the final record of all meetings. These minutes and evaluations will be analyzed and summarized for the final report of this project.

Steering Committee: The steering committee for the project works collaboratively to plan the meetings, develop and adapt the EBM tools used in the project and use the stakeholder generated ideas and priorities to develop the Sanford Conservation Plan. The steering committee includes staff from the Wells NERR, the Town of Sanford, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission and the consulting firm of Spatial Alternatives. Collaborative Learning is used by the steering committee to keep the project oriented toward end user needs and to evaluate the process of soliciting stakeholder engagement.

Stakeholder Identification and Participation: The steering committee identified key stakeholders to be invited to the first workshop. Those stakeholders represented the leadership of the town’s two regional land trusts, the water district, Sanford Parks and Recreation Department, Sanford Trails Committee, the Project Director of Partners for Healthier Communities of Goodall Hospital and a member of Town Council.

Regional stakeholders from outside of Sanford participated in all three workshops. These stakeholders included representatives from Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Association of Conservation Commissions, the York County Soil and Water Conservation District, the abutting towns of Kennebunk, Wells and Lebanon, Maine. Regional stakeholders participated in all activities with town members. In voting activities for conservation priorities we were able to identify votes of town members and non-town members using key pad poling technology.

At the conclusion of the first workshop participants were asked to invite additional people to the May meeting. The Steering Committee identified key stakeholders to invite to the second meeting. Those people were individually contacted to secure participation in the second workshop. Participants in Workshops 1 and 2 were contacted and personally invited to the concluding workshop on Sept 9th.

The stakeholder evaluation for Workshop 1 is included below. Questions about the fairness of the process have been included in all three evaluations and will be part of the final report of the project. Stakeholders consistently rated the fairness of the process as high.

4. The Sanford project will serve as a case study/demonstration site for the Coastal Training Program of the Wells NERR. Lessons learned will be used to design future land use trainings and workshops. Participants in the Sanford project will be involved in the delivery of training. This objective is critical to the diffusion of new technologies.

This objective will be addressed after the Sanford planning process concludes and the final plan has been written.

Tier II of the project will include the development and piloting of regional training for use of Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools for land use planning.

Project Objectives for This Reporting Period
1. Increase the land use technology knowledge, skills and abilities of local, state and federal government staff, academics, consultants and NGOs providing support and oversight to land use decision making.

Steering Committee members involved in the Sanford Conservation Plan process have developed skills using Community Viz technology and key pad polling technology. The Wells NERR GIS Center, Stewardship and Coastal Training Program staff have all been involved in adapting these two technologies to land use decision making. The Maine State Planning Office, Southern Maine Regional Planning Commission and Town of Sanford have all increased knowledge and skills as a result of this project. Participants in the Sanford Conservation Plan project were involved in the planning for the EBM tools training scheduled for Fall 2008.

2. Involve a steering committee of land use decision makers, government staff, consultants, academics and NGOs in the adaptation and design of training using the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Database. During May 2008 the Wells NERR staff and Dan Dorfman of the EBM Tools Network conducted focus group meetings with land use decision makers, consultants and government staff. The Maine Geological Survey, Maine Coastal Program, Town of York, and Maine Department of Conservation Beginning with Habitat Program were included in the focus group meetings to develop the agenda for two EBM Tools Trainings.

3. Conduct and evaluate regional training in the use and applications of the resources of the Ecosystem Based Management Tools Database related to land use planning.
The first EBM Tools Training is scheduled for October 22. The agenda developed from stakeholder input and focus group interviews appears below. A second training is scheduled for November 19-20. This training is being developed with EBM Tools Network member Ken Snyder of Place Matters. This training will focus on capacity and skill building for Community Viz and key pad polling. These technologies have emerged from the Sanford project as important land use decision making tools relevant to issues in Maine.

Data Generated to date
Data consists of qualitative records of meetings, GIS maps, Community Viz data, and key pad poling data. This will be synthesized in the Sanford Conservation Plan and will be used to build training materials for future trainings.

Project Objectives for Next Reporting Period
October ­ December 2008 Present Sanford Conservation Plan priorities to community groups, municipal officials. Use Community Viz generated maps and key pad polling to assess support for conservation values.

Fall 2008 Sanford Steering Committee to develop architecture of Conservation Plan, document meta data for building GIS maps.

October and November: Present EBM Tools Training October 22 & November 19-20. Evaluate training with stakeholder groups.

Expenditures
Expenditures are on track for both Tier 1 and Tier 2 objectives.

Additional Comments
Land use decision-making occurs within a network of governmental structures, citizen participation, municipal staff and board members. This project is designed to increase the use of technologies with the potential to improve decision-making that protects water quality and other valued community assets. The technologies being used for this project are not new to the land use planning domain but are not well known and applied in Maine. This project is increasing the capacity for Maine land use planners and service providers to provide these technologies. Cost is a major barrier for small communities to the use of technologies like Community Viz and Key pad poling. This project will demonstrate benefits of these technologies and provide training to increase their application.

The collaborative knowledge network of practitioners involved in this two tier project provides an example the role of social capital in ecosystem-based management. CICEET funding has enabled the Wells NERR to overcome barriers to land use technology adoption in Maine. The expertise of the international EBM Tools Network and NOAA’s Coastal Services Center is engaged in community-based ecosystem management through this project. State, regional and local planners are engaged in the Sanford and EBM Tools training development. This project is serving an additional function of creating opportunities and venues for local collaboration to develop strategies for advancing the practice of EBM.