Coming together to create a vibrant Northeast Ohio: 

The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) is focused on advancing a quality, connected twelve-county region amidst today's economic climate and stretched resources.

Through a diverse group of member organizations and region-wide engagement, the NEOSCC will develop concrete plans while fostering collaboration and capacity for action.

The aim of all of these efforts is to create a vibrant and resilient Northeast Ohio that increases our quality of life; connects our communities; welcomes diversity; restores and protects our natural resources;  and creates a competitive economic framework for the vitality of our region.

The NEOSCC is a three-year planning program funded largely by a highly competitive, first of its kind, $4.25M federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of the new federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. The Sustainable Communities Initiative is an interagency collaboration among HUD, the U.S. Department of Transportation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  The NEOSCC has also received a matching program grant of $500,000 from the Fund for our Economic Future. Its 31 consortium member organizations have pledged over $2.35 M of in-kind match in the form of staff time and operating expense contributions.  The initiative has also attracted over 70 other organizations through the 12 counties to participate.

Economic Development

Environments

During its February meeting, the members of the Environments Work Stream learned about the history and current state of agricultural production in Northeast Ohio and reviewed and refined a draft outline for the Environments section of the Existing Conditions and Current Trends Report. Casey Hoy and Brian Gwin, of the Ohio Agriculture Research and Development Center (OARDC) in Wooster, presented a history of Ohio's agricultural foundation and current research efforts through the Agro ecosystems Management Program at OARDC. Following questions and discussion, the work stream members shifted their focus to the initial outline of the Environments section of the Existing Conditions and Current Trends Report, prepared by Project Manager Joe MacDonald. The dialogue was extremely participatory and focused on questions to frame the report, how to look at key issues in terms of regional assets, and the target audience for the report. The group achieved broad consensus that the following questions should frame the Environments section of the report:

• What is the current state of each key environmental asset of Northeast Ohio (land use, water quality, parks and protected spaces, agriculture, biodiversity, etc.)?
• How has the state of each key environmental asset of Northeast Ohio changed over the past few decades? Is it better or worse?
• What are the drivers of change in each key environmental asset of Northeast Ohio? What do trends imply for the future state of the region's environmental assets if nothing is done to affect the drivers of change?
• What do trends (both past and future) mean for the audience of the Existing Conditions and Current Trend Report? How are stakeholders affected personally (both as individuals and community members), particularly how trends impact household and municipal budgets?

At the meeting's conclusion, work stream members promised to provide more detailed comments on the outline to the project manager by Friday, February 24. The final outline is due March 1.

The next meetings are still to be determined. Please check online for updates.

Housing & Communities

The Housing & Communities Work Stream has conducted two web-based meetings since the Board Meeting in January.  In working towards the Existing Conditions and Trends/Issues Report, the committee is continuing to gather Public Housing Agency Plans and HUD Consolidated Plans, among other plans throughout Northeast Ohio.  The group has focused its energies on four exercises:

• Creation of existing initial data/GIS questions
• Review of distinctive historic and culture assets
• Identification of regional trends
• Building the tool box manual

In order to address the broad definition of housing, two subcommittees have been created -- Housing Plan and the Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice.  These groups will focus on the development of the planning approach and identification of the potential consultants needed. Over the next few weeks, HUD is releasing a series of webinars on the fair housing topic.  The committee will meet after the webinars to discuss strategy.

Lastly, NEOSCC is excited to announce that Don Emerson, Executive Director at Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority has assumed the role of Co-Chair on the Housing and Communities Work Stream

The next Housing & Communities meeting is set for March 30, Friday; 10:00 AM at 146 S. High Street, 5th floor, Akron, Ohio 44308

Connections

Since their January meeting, the Connections work stream has been conducting research and gathering data for the existing conditions and trends report.  The Work Stream's efforts have been divided into the following committee subject areas:

• Transit systems and rail,
• Roadways, routes and interstates,
• Streets/parks/bike and pedestrian systems, and
• Connecting places. 

The four committees have been meeting individually throughout February to prepare data/plans/stories etc. for the "Existing Conditions and Trends and Issues Report." The deadline for their input is March 1.

The next Connections meeting is set for Thursday March 15th, 2012 from 10am to 11:30am at AMATS, 146 S. High Street, Akron Ohio. The purpose of this meeting is to go over and discuss the outline of the Existing Conditions report due in May and the data report from the GIS contractor. 

Quality Connected Places

The Quality Connected Places work stream will primarily integrate and synthesizes the output of other work streams.  The work stream will focus on supporting the region's existing communities by identifying their unique assets and by recommending changes to the policies and procedures that prevent Northeast Ohio from realizing its full potential as a globally competitive region.

The work stream will recommend policies that lower the combined housing and transportation costs facing the region's households (H+T Index) reduce social and economic disparities and increase the share of development taking place on already-serviced sites throughout the region.

The Quality Connected Places work stream will collaborate with the Consortium's other work streams to examine the long term future of the region, identify "alternative futures" and conduct scenario planning to analyze the impacts of these alternative on individual communities and the region as a whole.

The leadership for this work stream is currently being established. 

Sustainable Planning & Zoning Handbook

  

Studies on NEO Collaboration

KSU's Center for Public Administration and Public Policy recently released a number of case studies on the Northeast Ohio area. The case studies themselves are based on eight Efficient Gov Now 1.0 finalists and awardees. We have chosen to highlight the following four case studies but  All eight reports are available online at KSU's website.

Rollin' on the River

The "Rollin' on the River" project was designed to create an interactive website to enhance regional economic competitiveness and encourage efficient use of local government resources. The project hoped to promote economic development in the Mahoning River Corridor by making information about vacant land, sites, and facilities readily available to potential investors interested in developing a business in the region.

Sustain a Greener Ohio

This particular study speaks to two separate components of the NEOSCC work plan, GIS/Data and Environments. The "Sustain a Greener Ohio" project seeks to simultaneously increase GIS interconnectedness and collaboration in the Stark region while improving environmental conditions through better EPA compliance.

Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness for Public Health Services

This case study looks at the various health administrations collaboration in the Summit area and seeks to create both more efficient, affordable, and effective health services for citizens in the Summit region.

Western Reserve Joint Economic Development Zone

This study tackles issues of land use planning as it relates to infrastructures and economic development opportunities in the Western Reserve area. In this particular case study, the impetus was the potential development of a new Summa center.