The workshop was supported by a grant received by PEC from the Fairfax Water Supply Stakeholder Outreach Program and the Town of Leesburg. The Tuscarora Creek is a headwater catchment to Goose Creek; an important source for the Fairfax Water intake near the Loudoun County border and other water users along the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The goal of the workshop was to encourage and empower town staff to incorporate BSD principles into local codes and ordinances.
 
PEC and the Center have been working in partnership for nearly 10 years to identify and address areas of concern in the Goose Creek watershed. For example, a 2002 vulnerability analysis of Goose Creek classified its headwaters, Tuscarora Creek, as an impacted watershed that would likely be further degraded by future development. A more detailed assessment of Tuscarora Creek in 2007 identified specific sources of impairment and recommendations to address them, which included changes to local codes and ordinances. The Leesburg Town Council then established the Leesburg Watershed Committee to begin implementing the recommendations. The committee - which includes representatives from the community, area businesses, development industry, environmental organizations, schools, and town government - continues to meet monthly and now works to protect all streams within the town.
 
The workshop was organized to provide participants an opportunity to learn about the principles of BSD and apply techniques to achieve BSD through a hands-on exercise using a local case study. The workshop focused on set of BSD principles, reviewed and critiqued existing Town codes and completed a re-design exercise. Center staff Julie Schneider led the workshop with support from Neely Law and PEC field officer, Gem Bingol. The re-design exercise generated the most enthusiasm from participants as they were able to roll up their sleeves and develop a site from scratch. Planning Commissioners who typically get to see more final products found this exercise particularly useful as it demonstrated the range of opportunities available for alternative site design practices. Discussions during the workshop emphasized the need for political will and cooperation with the community to makes these types of development more common place. In the end, design from eight groups showcased reduced parking, conservation areas and bioretention among other practices incorporated into the site, and, most importantly,no code changes were required.
 
The Center is currently seeking funding opportunities to integrate new research and practices into the Better Site Design Manual to expand on its current foundation of best practices for site design. 
 
Contact Laurel Woodworth at the Center if you would like a workshop in your community.


Richland County, SC: Site Planning Roundtable Wrap-up  
The document was adopted by the Richland County Council in November and a subcommittee was formed to move forward with implementation of the recommendations. A recent article about the process was included in the local paper, The State.