Rivers Alliance's Comments (Feb. 2013) on State Plan of Conservation and Development

Rivers Alliance's Comments (Oct. 2012) on State Conservation and Development Policies Plan

State Plan of Conservation and Development.

Below is Rivers Alliance testimony on Feb. 23, 2013 for the state plan of conservation and development.

The committee was vague about how much longer it would take testimony, so the sooner the better. You can email the document to the committee clerk: peter.murszewski@cga.ct.gov

In theory the Plan could move quickly, from a committee vote to the floor of the House. More likely, however, the process will be drawn out. So if you want to weigh in later, your voice could be important. Rivers Alliance addressed mostly the process and the need to take more time to get it right. However, many people on both sides of the issues want first to see corrections to the map and then changes in the text as per their particular interests.

FOR THE CONTINUING LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE ON STATE PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
TESTIMONY OF RIVERS ALLIANCE OF CONNECTICUT ON
CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT POLICIES: THE PLAN FOR CONNECTICUT, 2013-2018

Date: February 23, 2013
To the Chairmen, Sen. Steve Cassano and Rep. Jason Rojas, and Members of the Committee:

Rivers Alliance of Connecticut is the statewide, non-profit coalition of river organizations, individuals, and businesses formed to protect and enhance Connecticut's waters by promoting sound water policies, uniting and strengthening the state's many river groups, and educating the public about the importance of water stewardship. Our 450 members include almost all of the state’s river and watershed conservation groups, representing many thousand Connecticut residents

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the state plan. I hope that the comment period can be held open for a time, as the notice was not in the usual place in the Bulletin, and I was late communicating with members.

A New Approach

This plan was created with a new approach to both the text and the map.

The Text

Cross-Acceptance Method: OPM was directed in PA 10-138 to revise the Plan through the “cross-acceptance method” used in New Jersey. This approach is designed to reform a top-down, centralized approach to planning. We support this approach. Implementation involves first a series of meetings and discussions with municipalities, regional planning organizations, and representatives of OPM to discuss a draft state plan. All parties are supposed to understand where their plans and goals differ from others’. OPM got through this stage but never attained the final and critical stage of negotiation, which concludes with formal statements of agreement or disagreement with the plan. Here is how it is describe on New Jersey’s website:

“Cross-acceptance concludes with written Statements of Agreements and Disagreements supported by each negotiating entity and the State Planning Commission. The State Planning Commission will incorporate the negotiated agreements into the Draft Final State Plan. Cross-acceptance is, by definition, a negotiating process. The State Plan and the State Plan Policy Map are intended to represent the input of counties, municipalities and the public so that we can all work together to create a State Plan that makes sense for all of New Jersey.”

Our sense is that many local groups feel they were only partly listened to and the state does not have the benefit of the clarity provided by the full cross-acceptance process. Moreover, the curtailed process does not meet the statutory requirements in PA 10-138:

“Section 1. (Effective from passage) (a) As used in this section, (1) "cross-acceptance" means a process by which planning policies of different levels of government are compared and differences between such policies are reconciled with the purpose of attaining compatibility between local, regional and state plans … “

 Recommendation: For this and other reasons (see below), we ask the Committee to postpone action on the state plan until the cross-acceptance process is complete.

Less Text. Although statutes and most people refer to the “state plan of conservation and development,” the title of the plan is “conservation and development policies …” (emphasis added). This signals that the document will present policies or principles, with the details of implementation to be found or developed elsewhere. The text is still organized around the “six principles of smart growth,” but the document is much shorter than the previous plan (45 pages versus 113).

There are benefits to a shorter text. We support this change, especially given limited state resources for research and writing. But the transition raises questions:

• Does the elimination of material indicate a change in state policy (as courts might rule)?
•  Some of the growth principles and policies are so broad as to permit multiple interpretations. Will there be ongoing service by OPM to help people determine what is consistent with the Plan and what is not?
•  If people are supposed to turn to one or more other plans to help in interpretation and to know how to flesh out a policy, which plans are authoritative? If plans are not consistent, which plan trumps which?

 

 OPM evidently intends to incorporate by reference various state-agency plans cited at the end of the text in each section. These plans are to be used for “more information and policy guidance” beyond what is found in the state master plan (page 6). But is a “guidance” document an authoritative statement of state policy on the same footing as the state Plan? If so, there should there be explicit statements in the state Plan and in the various agency plans cross-referring to each other when relevant.

Recommendation: Provide a more detailed explanation of when consistency with the Plan is required and how one can determine if a specific project is consistent or not. Clarify the status of the state agency plans vis a vis the Plan.

Generally, it appears that the deletion of detail is more costly to conservation than development. This tilt toward development appears more vividly in the map.

The Map

The most controversial aspect of the Plan has been the Locational Guide Map (LGM). It is not entirely clear whether the map is supposed to function as optional guidance or as a depiction of detail that is integral to the Plan itself. OPM has been clear that by law and practice the map should not be used as a definitive measure of whether a project is consistent with the Plan. Nevertheless, the Plan is often so used, similar to the way that a town’s zoning map is used to determine what can be put where.

Although the map may be mere optional guidance for many projects, it has been interpreted as required for showing the Priority Funding Areas (PA 05-205). The relationship between the map and criteria for funding makes the map extremely important to state and municipal officials, conservation and housing non-profits, developers, and many others.

The map is in this Plan based, for the first time, on census districts, and has a new set of categories by color (Priority Funding Areas, Conservation Areas, Village Priority Funding Areas, etc., through to Undesignated Lands). It also shows transportation infrastructure and sewer lines and plants. Unfortunately, despite a major effort, the map is still quite inaccurate and incomplete.

Some advocates have advised simply discarding the map, leaving the text alone as the Plan. We do not agree. If this map is not available, people will just use other maps. Moreover, the interactive version of the map has the promise of being a great planning tool.

Recommendation: Postpone adoption of this map until it is more complete and accurate. Provide an inducement to municipalities and regional organizations to submit data. Establish a streamlined process for making fact corrections to the map (location of roads, commercial districts, protected lands, etc.).

Miscellaneous Edits

• Page 18, last sentence implies that decentralized water and wastewater systems will not require publicly funded expansion of infrastructure. This was not the case in the state’s first (and, I believe only) decentralized wastewater district, which is in Old Saybrook. Public funding was very much needed.
• Page 19, bullet 5, clarify that mitigation of wetlands loss through wetlands creation is extremely difficult (and expensive) to do successfully; it requires expert, ongoing supervision. CEQ has stopped tracking created wetlands in their annual report because the data is so difficult to gather. • Page 24, first bullet. “Utilize an integrated watershed management approach [for public drinking water]. Here and elsewhere, the plan should indicate whether a prescription would require significant changes in state law (as this would) or is within reach under existing laws and policies.
• Page 24, third bullet. Here, somewhat inexplicably, the plan has deleted the public health standard of two-acres per unit in a drinking-water watershed. But it has added a limit of 10 percent area coverage in such a watershed. The latter is a good limit and should be applied where feasible (commercial development often tracks river and aquifers and includes miles of pavement and roofs). We ask that both standards be included in the plan.
• Revisit the comments of the statewide environmental organizations submitted for the earlier draft and this version of the plan. These comments include much important information and advice. Many changes were made but many important points were set aside. In other words, this testimony from Rivers Alliance is incorporating by reference the comments of our colleagues.

Summary

 If the Plan and LGM (map) are adopted in their present condition, the state will not have the benefit of the clear, accurate, useful tool that is actually within reach. The creators of the Plan were given a mission-impossible considering the fragmentation of Connecticut’s governing entities; the requirement to create a new, complex map; the shortage of time and resources.

Recommendation: This is not an emergency. Take the time to do the job right. Reconsider the relatively great expansion of growth areas versus conservation areas in the text and map. Connecticut is traditionally a place of industry, natural beauty, and healthy communities.