-
7/31/2019 Winter 2008 Newsletter Connecticut Nonpoint Education
for Municipal Officials
1/3
This spring, NEMO and its parent organ-ization, the UConn Center
for Land UseEducation and Research (CLEAR), com-pleted two projects
that are worth noting(we hope!).
The first looked at riparian, or stream-side, areas in the
southern half of the state.Intact riparian areas are known to
helpprotect water quality and reduce erosionand sedimentation, as
well as providewildlife corridors. The research, funded bythe Long
Island Sound Study National
Estuary Program, used CLEARremote sensing data to look atland
cover (as of 2002) andland cover change (1985 2002)in the 100 foot,
200 foot, and300 foot corridors borderingstreams in the southern
half ofthe state. Overall, the studyfound that riparian areas had
agreater percentage of naturalvegetation, and had lost lessnatural
vegetation over the 17-year studyperiod, than the overall
landscape. Thisresult provides indirect but strong evi-dence that
the states wetlands and water-course buffer regulations are having
aneffect in slowing development along
streams. The study also identified hotspot watersheds
experiencing the greatestrate of riparian vegetation loss. The
Statusof Connecticuts Coastal RiparianCorridorscan be found by
going to theCLEAR website and rolling over theResearch button.
The second project explored the build-out analysis, a planning
tool that has gar-nered a lot of attention at the stateLegislature
and other places over the pastseveral years. What types of
buildouts are
there, and what data and soft-ware do you need? Is a
buildoutanalysis (a) the answer to allyour thorniest planning
issues;(b) a smoke-and-mirrors trickto stop all further
developmentin your town, or; (c) none ofthe above? These and
otherquestions were explored in theproject, funded by the
stateOffice of Policy and
Management and conducted by NEMO inpartnership with the Council
ofGovernments of the Central NaugatuckValley. A report based on the
project, AboutBuildouts: a Brief Guide to Buildout
Analyses, and Why and How to Do Them,will be available from the
Publications sec-tion of the NEMO website in May.
Winter/Spring 2008
Spotlight On . . .New Low Impact Development
(LID) Tools & Resources Online
CTs Changing Landscape
Welcome Kate Woodruff
Land Use Academy
Nonpoint Education for Municipal Official
From Buffers to Buildouts
Jordan Cove Website
New Open Space Workshop
New & Noteworthy
Exploring Low Impact Developm
in the Comfort of Your Own HomMost people (including us,
sometimeslonger remember that NEMO is an acrothat stands for
Nonpoint Education fMunicipal Officials. Yet dredging up historic
mouthful reminds us that whiNEMO conducts education on a widerange
of topics having to do with naturesource-based land use planning,
we halways had a particular focus on stormwand its impact on water
resources.
Today, many towns are becoming
interested in low impact developmen(LID), a suite of techniques
with the gof reducing or eliminating the water quaand quality
impacts of stormwater generby development. At NEMOs statewidLID
conference last summer, interest iLID ran high, but so too did the
list obarriers that participants felt were imped
wider and faster adoption of these techniques.
In this issue, we highlight NEMOStormwater Management Trifecta,
a smbut potent nuclear family of websitesdesigned to help your
community surmothese barriers and get going on LID. Th
websites put you in direct contact withrelevant sections in the
ConnecticutStormwater Quality Manual, and can take you to LID sites
and regulations pneered by your neighboring towns. Whope that the
article will inspire you tfire up your browser and visit.
An example of a riparian
area land cover change
map (a section of the CT
River seen in blue).
-
7/31/2019 Winter 2008 Newsletter Connecticut Nonpoint Education
for Municipal Officials
2/3
The LID Regulations website is the newest effort and completes
the TRIFsite is designed to help commissioners and town staff make
changes thatimpact development implementation in town regulations
and ordinancSearch page, users can search regulations that
explicitly address stormwaterin Connecticut. The site is intended
as a way to get past the paralysis of theand start to address the
regulatory aspect of encouraging low impact develo
Like the CT LID Inventory website, regulation examples are
searchableby regulation type, as well as by a variety of regulatory
approaches. The deregulations include contact information, the full
text excerpts of the regulaimplementation experiences with the
amendments. Connecticut towns areto submit additional examples of
innovative stormwater management regulthey are amended.
New Low Impact Development (LID) Tools & Resources
Connecticut NEMO Newsletter, WPage 2
The Planning for Stormwater website is the mostgeneral of the
TRIFECTA websites, offeringinformation, details and case studies
for imple-menting low impact development in Connecticut.From this
site the user can learn what the elements
of stormwater management and low impactdevelopment arefrom green
roofs to permeablepavement. The details include commercial
andresidential site design consideration, local examplesand direct
links to the 2004 ConnecticutStormwater Quality Manual. This site
is designedto be accessible to land use officials who evaluateand
implement these stormwater management practicesin their local
communities.
The site also includes vendor information, searchableLID or site
design elements, such as grassed swales or roads,an LID glossary,
and answers to frequently asked questionsabout the effectiveness of
low impact development.
Regulations for innovative stormwatemanagement
The CT LID Inventory website supplements and builds on the
Planningfor Stormwater website by providing searchable local
examples of lowimpact development projects throughout Connecticut.
The site allows
the user to search projects by town, LID practice type or
project name.To illustrate the examples fully, project profiles
include maintenanceconsiderations, contact information for the
installers, engineers, ownersand photos. The user can also search
specifically for engineering andconstruction companies familiar
with low impact development.
In a partnership with the University of New Hampshire
StormwaterCenter, NEMOs CT LID Inventory website wasexpanded to be
a part of the Northeast LID Inventory,
a similar website that includes low impact develop-ment examples
throughout the Northeast. This site is
also accessible through NEMOs CT LID Inventorywebsite.
The LID examples featured on the website comefrom community
input. If you know of any LID sites
wed love to hear about it. Contact NEMO through ouronline
submission form, by email ([email protected])
or call John Rozum at (860-345-5225).
Low impact development examples with a local i
w online at NEMOs Tools and Resources section,ree websites offer
your town a comprehensiveproach to addressing land use and water
quality.
e TRIFECTA offers complimentary ways ofcessing the latest in low
impact developmentd innovative stormwater management researchd
implementation methods.
ordan Cove Urban Watershed National Monitoring Project
terford, Connecticut focused on a unique public/private
ership to incorporate and monitor the effectiveness of a
ty of stormwater low impact developent (LID) designs.
CT LID Inventory
LID Regulations
Public access parking s
Point, Old Saybrook fe
pavement.Shown herea
concrete pavers and G
Planning for Stormwatereducing runoff through better site
design
(Clockwise from top left) NEMOs Tools and
Resources home page, Planning for Stormwater
home page, CT LID Regulations home page and
the CT LID Inventory home page.
nemo.uconn.edu/tools.htm
Introducing the Stormwater Management Trifecta
-
7/31/2019 Winter 2008 Newsletter Connecticut Nonpoint Education
for Municipal Officials
3/3
Jordan Cove Website The Jordan CoveUrban Watershed Projectwas a
ten yearproject in Waterford, Connecticut that
monitored the effectiveness of variouslow impact development
practices in anewly developed subdivision. The resultsof this
nationally recognized study, along
with pictures, videos and interviews ofproject participants are
available on the
website jordancove.uconn.edu (homepage shown below).
New Workshop: Habitat-basedMangement of Open Space LandsMany
land trusts and municipalities have
acquired large portfolios of propertiesthat are now permanently
protected, buthave no clear plans on how to conserveand enhance the
ecological and habitatvalues of the property. This workshopleads
participants through a habitat-based planning process to show how
todevelop workable management plansfor their properties. A
supporting web-site is currently in development.Contact Juliana
Barrett at 860-405-9106 for more information.
Connecticuts Changing Landscape,v2.0 NEMOs mother ship, The
Centerfor Land Use Education and Research(CLEAR), will be releasing
a new versionof the celebrated study of Connecticutland cover
change from 1985 to 2006.Not only will this study extend thetime
period to 21 years, but it will bean entirely updated analysis,
providing
both new and refined land cover classes,including a stand-alone
agricultureclass. Look for an upcoming announce-
ment from CLEAR.
NEMO Wins National Water ResourcesAward! The NEMO program,
comprisedof the CT NEMO and the NationalNEMO Network, was awarded
the
2008 Water Resources Team Awardfromthe U.S. Department of
Agriculture forOutstanding Integrated Program atthe USDA Water
Quality Conferencein Reno, Nevada in February. TheNEMO Team was
recognized for estab-
lishing an outstanding program that hashad a significant impact
on the protectionof water resources in urbanizing areas
across the country.
NEMO Welcomes Kate WoodruffKate Woodruff joined the NEMO
Teamlast fall as a geospatial technology specialist.Kates primary
focus is on GIS and remotesensing technology, but she has taken
charge
of various NEMO projects. Kate has hitthe ground
running,developing andenhancing two novellow impact develop-ment
websites thatare featured in thisnewsletter (see theStormwater
Trifectaarticle, page 2).
Kate is a graduateof the University of
California, Los Angeles with a B.A. inPolitical Science,
International Relations,focused on water management, with minorsin
Environmental Studies and Anthropology.She also has a Masters of
EnvironmentalManagement in Water Management, Lawand Policy from
Yales School of Forestryand Environmental Studies. Given
herimpressive pedigree, we consider ourselveslucky to have Kate
onboard.
Contact NEMO at: University of Connecticut, CES
1066 Saybrook Road, P.O.Box 70,Haddam, CT 06438
Phone: (860) 345-4511 Fax: (860) 345-3357
Email:[email protected] Web:nemo.uconn.edu
Editor: John Rozum
Writers: John Rozum, Chet Arnold & Kate Woodruff
Designer & Project Manager: Kara Bonsack
The CT NEMO Newsletter is published randomly by t
UConn Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials
(NEMO) Program, to inform land use officials and ot
interested parties in Connecticut communities abou
NEMO programs and products.
NEMO is a University of Connecticut educational
gram that is a collaboration of the Cooperative
Extension System, the Connecticut Sea Grant Colleg
Program and the Department of Natural Resources
Management and Engineering. Major funding is provid
by Cooperative Extension, the CT DEP Nonpoint Sou
Program and the Connecticut Sea Grant College Progra
NEMO is a program of the UConn Center for Land Us
Education and Research (CLEAR).
2008 University of Connecticut. The University
Connecticut supports all state and federal laws that
promote equal opportunity and prohibit discriminatio
04-08/690
NEMOs newest team
member, Kate Woodruff.
Back to Basics withthe Land Use Academy
NEMOs sister program, the Connecticut La
Use Academy, is an educational program
land use commissioners. The Academy provides accessible land use
education that
helps commissioners succeed in their role
of public service. The Land Use Academy i
the states official certification program fo
fundamental land use education for comm
sioners. The academy focuses on commis-
sioners with fewer than five years experienc
though all are welcome.
The Academy includes three core courses
and is taught in a day-long conference-sty
event. The training is offered four times
annually in locations across the state. Lea
more atclear.uconn.edu/lua.
Academy 2008 Schedule(Saturdays 8:30 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.)
Groton, CT, May 17
Torrington, CT, September 27
Berlin, CT, November 15
Connecticut
Connecticut NEMO Newsletter, Winter/Sprin
