Our Regional Representative Amy Hartman and our Research and Planning Manager Adam Garcia have been working with the Rural Vacaville Preservation Alliance, a group of several hundred residents who are concerned about the impacts of sprawl development on our natural and agricultural lands.
Earlier this summer, Amy and Adam met with the group to demonstrate how the new Bay Area Greenprint tool—created by Greenbelt Alliance and our partners—can be used to empower residents to shape local land-use planning and infrastructure decisions. This free online tool provides a wealth of data for anyone looking to identify, map, and measure the many values that our open space lands provide.
Adam used the Dove Creek development, a 44-unit sprawl development proposed in rural Solano County as a case study, helping the group harness the power of the Greenprint to evaluate the environmental values of the project site, including habitat quality, biodiversity, and water resources. He also showed the group how the Greenprint tool can be used to determine which open space protection policies would apply to the proposed development.
We are excited to have the opportunity to use the Bay Area Greenprint in a truly localized effort. We wish the Rural Vacaville Preservation Alliance continued success in mobilizing residents to protect our treasured landscapes from sprawl development.
Photo: Ken Lund via Flickr
