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COMMUNITY PLANNING Open Space and Conservation Resources
Below is a list of resources and case studies from other municipalities with annotations that explain why these resources are noteworthy.
Community Gardens
American Community Gardening Association – “Starting a Community Garden”
Click here for more information
Produced by the American Community Gardening Association, this guide presents similar information to the guide from the University of California Cooperative Extension, but provides more information on managing community gardens, including sample application form questions and sample garden guidelines and rules. California Local Government Commission – “Cultivating Community Gardens: The Role of Local Government in Creating Healthy, Livable Neighborhoods”
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After describing the health, environmental, and community benefits that community gardens provide, this article addresses the role that local governments can play to make community gardens a reality. The Local Government Commission notes a number of possible actions for local governments to foster the formation of community gardens, including creating municipal garden programs, initiating a non-profit organization to support community gardens, incorporating community gardens in the general plan, establishing zoning codes which do not prevent gardens, forming a community garden committee, and providing an easily accessible inventory of parcels that offer opportunities for garden organizers. Each of the ideas suggested here have been done in some form in U.S. cities, which is described in more detail in the article. New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service – George Dickerson and Ron Walser, “Starting a Community Vegetable Garden”
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This guide provides more information for community members interested in creating gardens. It outlines more sample rules that could be adopted by the garden, and also gives advice about physically creating the garden, installing irrigation, and what crops should be planted. Public Health Law & Policy – “Establishing Land Use Protections for Community Gardens” Click here for more information This article from Planning for Healthy Places, a project of Public Health Law & Policy, details how planners in local government can facilitate the creation and maintenance of community gardens through the general plan and zoning codes. Although this piece focuses on land use policies that can foster community gardens, it also lists a number of examples of actions taken by U.S. cities to promote gardens, including the City of Escondido’s Adopt-a-Lot policy aimed at providing recreational opportunities on public and private vacant land and Seattle’s program which provides public monies for the purchase and maintenance of garden plots. Policies suggested in the paper include encouraging the creation of a certain acreage of community gardens per 1,000 residents, encouraging (or requiring) all new affordable housing units to contain yard areas that are designated for garden use, and identifying existing and potential garden sites on public property. University of California Cooperative Extension, L.A. County - “Community Garden Start-Up Guide” Click here for more information This guide provides a framework for community members and organizations interested in forming community gardens. It includes step-by-step instructions on how to organize potential members, find an appropriate site with water, and acquire sites. It also gives tips on how to deal with common challenges once the garden has been developed.
Plans Alexandria, Virginia: Open Space Plan Burlington, Vermont: 2000 Open Space Protection Plan Calabasas, California: Issue paper on Sustainability Carlsbad Open Space and Conservation Element Claremont, California: General Plan Davis, California: Open Space Acquisition and Management Plan Glendale, California: Trail Master Plan Linking Landscapes: A Plan for the Protected Open Space Network in Chester County Long Beach Open Space and Recreation Marin County, California: General Plan Open Space Guidebook: A Guide for Municipalities Riverside, California: Open Space and Conservation Element Santa Clarita Open Space and Conservation Element Amendment San Diego, California: Conservation Element Sunnyvale Open Space and Recreation Sub-Element Thousand Oaks Open Space Element Trail and Path Planning: A Guide for Municipalities
Alexandria, Virginia Open Space Plan Alexandria is a city of approximately 135,000 residents with a demographics and an economic profile similar to Pasadena. Alexandria and Pasadena face similar open space issues: diminishing availability, uneven distribution, and a need to grow public support for the care and protection of open pace.
For Alexandria, this has required a careful balance between preserving undeveloped land while ensuring the needs of current residents are adequately addressed. Their Plan highlights many potential funding sources ranging from grants to restructuring fees and taxes so that purchase costs are distributed fairly.
Since the Plan’s adoption in 2003, the City has added 65 acres of open space. Additionally, Alexandria has created a fund that sets aside 1% of real estate taxes to preserving and acquiring open space.
Burlington, Vermont: 2000 Open Space Protection Plan Burlington, the largest city in Vermont with a population of approximately 40,000, created an Open Space Protection Plan in 2000. The City is located on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain and along the Winooski River. Between 1980 and 1989, 16 percent of the City’s open space was developed reducing the total open space to approximately 22 percent of the city’s area. The city adopted the Protection Plan in order to limit further development of open space.
Speakers at the November 2008 meeting of the Open Space and Conservation Element Committee referred to the land inventory included in the Protection Plan, suggesting that it be used as inspiration for Pasadena’s land inventory. The land inventory can be reviewed by clicking the “References and Appendices” link.
Calabasas Issue Paper on Sustainability Calabasas’ issue paper presents a balanced definition of sustainability that draws from California’s General Plan Guidelines (2003) and the United Nation’s report entitled “Our Common Future.” The paper examines three intersecting elements – environment, economics, and equity – that control, limit, or impact the development of open space. The Paper identifies a major obstacle – people understand the interaction between the environment, economics, and equity in different ways. One example is that preservation is often understood as increasing economic costs, while overlooking potentially significant long-term environmental benefits. The Paper argues that concerns about economic costs can be relieved by focusing on incremental policies that stress process rather than outcome.
Carlsbad Open Space and Conservation Element
Carlsbad, a coastal city with a population of approximately 90,000 in northern San Diego County, amended their combined Open Space and Conservation Element in late November of 2006. Facing similar regional climactic conditions to Pasadena, Carlsbad has demonstrated a commitment to preserving open space through various ordinances as well as through the development of an Open Space Management Plan and participation in SANDAG’s (San Diego Association of Governments) Multiple Habitat Conservation Program. Among the notable aspects of Carlsbad’s Open Space and Conservation Element are the quality of its open space definition and classification system and its maps. The City of Pasadena may also consider following the format of goals for each topic followed immediately by objectives and implementing policies and action programs used by preparers of the Carlsbad document. Claremont has a history of cultivating urban parks and open space within their municipality. Their General Plan is unique as it adds sustainability into policy guidelines and goals, and uses strategies to insert sustainability into urban areas, such as small scale agriculture and community forests. This policy maneuver makes interesting use of scarce urban space, and may be especially applicable to Pasadena given its built out nature. Claremont’s general plan also makes excellent use of graphics to demonstrate park availability and proximity to open and green spaces (especially in Chapter 5).
Davis, California: Open Space Acquisition and Management Plan Davis developed this plan to codify long-standing community goals. This Plan details the management of the City’s strategies to acquire and maintain open space. Formalization of clear acquisition priorities and goals have guided the development of implementation tools – such as open space preservation ordinances – while focusing planning and fund raising efforts on long-term open space preservation. Davis’ plan provides a successful example of how cities can codify community priorities and pre-existing efforts into a succinct policy document.
City of Glendale’s Trails Master Plan The City of Glendale is developing a trails master plan to promote trails that connect with other trails in the region. Glendale has provided several maps that illustrate potential sites to connect current or future trails in Pasadena to Glendale.
Linking Landscapes: A Plan for the Protected Open Space Network in Chester County Linking Landscapes serves as Chester County’s open space element of their comprehensive plan. Chester County is located in Pennsylvania, situated outside Philadelphia. The County is comprised of many townships with varying economic conditions and urbanization rates; approximately 40% or 302 square miles of the County has been developed, but 60% or 453 square miles remain as farmland or undeveloped open space.
Linking Landscapes examines the challenges and opportunities that municipalities within Chester face when protecting open space from developmental pressures. To encourage public and private preservation, Landscapes provides empirical evidence to demonstrate the economic, ecological, and quality of life benefits of open space. The document, moreover, exceptionally illustrates the full benefits of open space preservation are most realized when they are concurrently developed with and integrated into regional trails and recreation corridors.
To maximize urban open space in Chester, the plan urges property owners to (re)develop sites with native flora that enhances open space and wildlife development. This can also reduce the time, money, and natural resources invested into underutilized landscaping (such as lawns).
Landscapes is currently undergoing revisions to reflect the changing demographic, economic, environmental, and infrastructural needs of Chester County.
Long Beach Open Space and Recreation Element A city with a population of just under 500,000 inhabitants, Long Beach is one of the largest in the state of California. Long Beach has a bustling port which serves as a major driver of economic welfare and jobs. Similar to Pasadena, Long Beach seeks to find a balance between its economy and preserving its dwindling natural areas. In recent years, Long Beach has taken an interest in preserving its remaining wetlands areas through the EcoZone Project, a public-private venture to actively engage in preservation of natural areas such as Long Beach’s Los Cerritos Wetlands. An update to Long Beach’s dual Open Space and Recreation Element was completed in October 2002. Pasadena’s open space portion of its Open Space and Conservation Element may follow the general framework of Long Beach’s section of “Issues, Goals / Objectives, Policies & Programs,” which is organized by each of the four topical areas required by state law. Marin County’s general plan heavily integrates sustainability into its policy framework. Marin’s plan provides economic and social arguments to strengthen efforts to reduce the County’s use of non-renewable and limited resources. Marin has dedicated itself to providing municipal services and working conditions that meet current and future needs of both residents and businesses.
To ensure open space and preservation produce tangible environmental and community results, Marin has outlined technological and financial resources to connect isolated open space parcels. These strategies reduce the intrusion of buildings on protected lands, and strive to integrate agencies with interests in open space into decision making processes.
Open Space Guidebook: A Guide for Municipalities Chester County’s Open Space Guidebook was developed with the intent of providing practical advice to guide municipal development of open space. The guidebook offers a multitude of informative suggestions and recommendations, particularly a 4-step framework to develop a common community understanding of a municipality’s physical environment. The framework provides an organizational structure that guides open space from inventories of existing resources up to presenting recommendations or action items that can be implemented to protect or restore open space resources.
To reach county and municipal goals and objectives, the guidebook provides an overview of methodologies that can be employed to connect cities with regional open space and recreational opportunities. Regional integration has been an essential element of Chester’s successful open space preservation efforts, as multi-jurisdictional trails and recreational opportunities encourage cooperation.
With a population of approximately 160,000, Pomona is one of the five largest cities in Los Angeles County, and has a demographic profile similar to that of Pasadena. Also similar to Pasadena, a majority of the land within city limits has been developed, with pockets of undeveloped open space in peripheral portions of the city (approximately five percent of Pomona’s land is classified as vacant or open space).
Pomona’s Conservation Element, which was presented in a draft general plan in February 2007, does a particularly good job of dealing with air quality, laying out the federal, state, and regional requirements to which Pomona is subject, and also has a section explaining the link between land use planning and air quality. The element is organized by subject area, with sections on biological resources and habitats, air quality, water resources, and solid waste. The City of Pomona chose to complete its open space requirement in a Parks, Recreation, and Open Space Element, which may not serve as a guide for Pasadena since the completion of the Green Space Element.
Riverside, California: Open Space and Conservation Element (12 mb) The City of Riverside is confronting a diverse range of environmental and open space issues. Adopted City policies have attempted to balance development interests with community preservation objectives, especially in sensitive environmental or geologic areas. Riverside’s open space and conservation element aims to proactively address and mitigate potential environmental issues, such as reduced open space linkages, development encroachment on biological / wildlife habitats, and watershed management. The General Plan’s vision of environmental stewardship has led Riverside to adopt policies that address environmental, energy, and ecological challenges poised by economic growth and recreation – such as limitations of water, energy, and land supply. Handling these resource issues through nuanced policy ensures regional goals can be clearly defined, and mitigation measures developed (such as reducing urban runoff, requiring development projects to incorporate energy and water saving features, etc.).
Santa Clarita Open Space and Conservation Element
Located in northern Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita is a young city of 130,000, which was incorporated in 1987. Due to Santa Clarita’s close proximity to Pasadena, it shares many of same challenges in terms of water resources, open space conservation, and improving air quality.
One positive aspect of Santa Clarita’s Open Space and Conservation Element Amendment, which was approved in 1999, is that it devotes a noteworthy amount of detail to Significant Ecological Areas and sensitive biological resources. The graphics do a good job of identifying important biological areas and vegetation communities. While the goals and policies section provides an overall framework for future development, its introduction at the end of the document does not emphasize its significance.
San Diego, California: Conservation Element San Diego recently adopted an updated general plan in March 2008. Their conservation element is very applicable to Pasadena, as San Diego faces many of the same regional issues. In particular, San Diego is working to ensure that developments occur in ways that protect the quality of natural resources; retain biodiversity and connect habitats; and maximize physical and visual public access to and along open space areas. San Diego’s element additionally focuses on the efficient management of water quality, urban forests, and energy consumption. The element further includes a matrix (see Table CE-1) that pairs sustainability issues (such as green house gasses) with specific policy solutions.
Sunnyvale Open Space and Recreation Sub-Element
Sunnyvale, California, located in Santa Clara County and the heart of the Silicon Valley, has a population that is becoming both more ethnically diverse and aged. Sunnyvale has very little natural open space in and around the city, but it shares similar concerns with Pasadena of maintaining and increasing open space areas for the benefits of its citizens.
Sunnyvale completed its Open Space and Recreation Sub-Element in 2006. Although it places a greater emphasis on parks than Pasadena’s Open Space and Conservation Element will, Sunnyvale’s document provides a detailed look at community conditions as well as changes from the past and projections into the future. The document also does an excellent job of outlining priorities and access principles for the guidance of future development of open space facilities.
Thousand Oaks Open Space Element
Thousand Oaks, a community of nearly 130,000 people, has a wealth of natural resources, with more than 14,800 acres of publicly-owned open space areas. Although open space is more abundant in Thousand Oaks than it is in Pasadena, both cities face similar challenges in conservation and preservation while fostering productive economies.
Thousand Oaks’ Open Space Element, which was updated in 1996, provides an exemplary model in its second chapter, where it identifies the benefits of open space, and establishes a community ethic of preservation of natural open areas. The section which describes areas important open space resources is could also serve as a model for Pasadena’s Open Space and Conservation Element. Although the element is lacking in graphical representation, its text has aspects worthy of mimicking.
Trail and Path Planning: A Guide for Municipalities Trail and Path Planning was prepared by Chester County to demonstrate that a wide-range of walking, bicycling, and equestrian trails can be developed as vital city assets. The document covers many facets of trail planning, and topically examines the steps required to implement a functional trail network at the municipal and regional level.
Trail and Path Planning covers strategies to reduce maintenance and acquisition costs of trails. This includes increasing trail accessibility to accommodate policing activities and utilizing designs that are resistant to extreme environmental conditions. Reducing land-acquisition costs can be achieved by developing strong and lasting ties with land owners that are willing to permit trails on their properties.
Lastly, the document stresses that trails should be specifically designed to accommodate current and future users. Not all users engage in the same activities, and it is thus useful to sample a wide cross-section of the population to determine a community’s needs.
If you have any questions about the Open Space and Conservation Element, please contact:
Laura Dahl, Senior Planner
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