1. Rolling Climate Change, Transportation & Land
Use Planning into One Innovative Process
Lindsey Morse, AICP, Community Planner, US DOT Volpe Center
Clay Schofield, P.E., Transportation Engineer, Cape Cod Commission
Lauren McKean, AICP, National Park Service Planner, Cape Cod National Seashore
Nan Johnson, Community Planner, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 1

2. Outline
• Part 1: What was the project? (USDOT, Lindsey Morse)
• Part 2: How is the project being followed up locally?
– Cape Cod Commission (Clay Schofield)
– Cape Cod National Seashore (Lauren McKean)
• Part 3: How can others benefit from this project?
(USDOT, Lindsey Morse / FEMA, Nan Johnson)
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3. Part I – What was the project?
Interagency Transportation, Land Use, and
Climate Change Pilot Project
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4. Purpose
• Initiative of the Federal Interagency Working Group on
Transportation, Land Use, and Climate Change
– Integrated regional planning and development
– Intermodal gateway mobility planning
• Project goals
– Climate change planning at local level
• GHG mitigation
• Adaptation to SLR
– Scenario planning
– Interagency coordination
– Replicability
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5. Tasks
• Project definition and site selection
• Partnerships, resources, and data collection
• Identification of strategies to reduce transportation related GHG
emissions
• Identification of areas vulnerable to climate change impacts to
inform land use and transit planning decisions
• Scenario development and assessment
• Outputs and next steps
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6. Partnerships
• Participants
– Federal funding sponsors and supporting federal agencies
– State agencies
– Regional and local agencies / governments
• Barnstable County and 15 towns
– Private and academic entities
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7. Focus: GHG Mitigation
• Research
– Moving Cooler: An Analysis of Transportation Strategies for Reducing
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Policy strategies
– Pricing strategies
– Land use and smart growth strategies
– Non-motorized transportation strategies
– Public transportation strategies
– Regional ride-sharing, car-sharing, and commuting strategies
– Operational and intelligent transportation system (ITS) strategies
– Vehicle efficiency and alternative fuel strategies
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8. Adaptation: Expert Elicitation
• Expert elicitation identified
“Areas of Concern”
– Elevation
– Exposure to storm surge
– Erosion
– Flooding history
– Lack of redundant
transportation access
– Potential SLR impacts
• Areas of concern incorporated
into scenario development
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9. 2030
Scenario Development
Enhanced
• Pre-run scenarios
• Workshop
• Refined scenario
Dispersed
Transportation
Trend Standard
?
Development Standard
Transportation
Targeted
Enhanced
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10. Workshop Technology
• Scenario development and evaluation software
– Interactive, GIS-based decision-support technology
– Placement of chips for housing and employment
– Real-time updating of indicators
Source: Volpe Center (November 2010)
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11. Workshop Technology
PlaceMatters video
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12. Workshop Technology
• Keypad polling
– Real-time, anonymous input
– Make-up of audience
– Prioritization of key issues
Source: Volpe Center (November 2010)
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13. Scenario Assessment
• Assessment indicators
– Greenhouse gas emissions
– Vehicle miles traveled
– Percent of new population in vulnerable areas
– Percent of population in priority habitats, undeveloped lands,
conservation areas
– Percent of population in historic preservation areas, water
resource/wellhead protection areas
– Percent of new population and employees served by transit
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14. Outcomes
• “Guidebook” – documentation, evaluation,
recommendations
• Technical Report – methodology, results
• “Action Plans”
– National Park Service
– Cape Cod Commission
– Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Visit
http://www.volpe.dot.gov/interagencypilotproject.html
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15. Part II – How is the project being followed up locally?
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16. Top Regional Planning Issues
• Traffic
– Congestion
– Bridges and roads lack capacity
• Water Quality
– Sole source aquifer
– Most homes and business are on individual
Septic Systems
• Wastewater
– Very little sewer (see above)
– Nitrogen loading and algae in water bodies 60000 50,136
58,526
• Emergency Management 50000
30,725
40,902
– Two functionally obsolete bridges and a
40000
30000
history of hurricanes and nor’easters 20000
10000
• Aging Population 0
1980 1990 2000 2010
– 24% of the year round population is over 65 Projection
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17. Planning efforts
• The tools created by this project support the following
planning efforts:
– Regional Wastewater Management Plan
– Regional Policy Plan and Local Comprehensive Plans
– Town Land Use Vision Maps and Local Comprehensive Plans
– 5-year and Long Range Transit Plan
– Regional and Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
– Regional Transportation Plan
– Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy
– Upper Cape Land Use/Transportation Study
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18. Integration of Climate Change
Adaptation
The preferred scenario is a starting place for refining our land use
vision.
• The land use vision will be further refined by the other planning
efforts and updates. The scenario planning tool allows quantifying
a number of greenhouse gas implications as well as potential areas
at risk from sea level rise in the development of these other plans.
This refined land use vision will be supported by the Regional
Policy Plan, which provides guidance for the updates to the local
comprehensive plans and other ongoing planning such as the
Regional Transportation Plan.
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19. Regional Wastewater
Management Plan
Cape Cod is facing a nitrogen loading problem in the sole-source aquifer
and our ponds, lakes, estuaries and embayments a regional effort to
upgrade from individual septic systems to sewers is being explored.
Planning for this effort includes looking forward to areas of expected
development as well as prioritizing areas where residential development
exists within wellhead protection areas and future water sources.
The development of the wastewater planning will be guided by the
preferred scenario which was also developed with water resource areas as
a consideration for growth.
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20. Regional Policy Plan and Local
Comprehensive Plans
Cape Cod’s Regional Policy Plan (RPP) provides guidance for development
on the Cape and is coordinated with the Local Comprehensive Plans
developed by each of the 15 towns.
The current RPP included Land Use Vision Maps (LUVMs) that were
developed with the towns to help define growth incentive zones. Most
towns developed LUVMs and they were the starting point for the
development of the preferred scenario.
The LUVMs were developed primarily town by town and the regional
exercise allowed a more coordinated pattern of development. We see this
as a tool to develop and optimize planning for infrastructure, especially,
wastewater and transportation.
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21. Town Land Use Vision Maps and
Local Comprehensive Plans
Several towns did not develop LUVMs and the Preferred Scenario will
provide guidance for them as the next Regional Policy Plan update gets
underway.
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22. Transportation Plans
• 5-year and Long Range Transit Plan
These plans were developed in 2002 and 2003 and an update is
underway. The work to define the Preferred Scenario included public
transportation options. The public transportation options will be
refined and evaluated using the CommunityVIZ tool.
• Regional Transportation Plan
This document was recently updated however the CommunityVIZ tool
and the Preferred Scenario will be used to evaluate and prioritize
projects with respect to goals defined for the plan and infrastructure
threatened by sea level rise. The development of the Preferred
Scenario included the roadway network and the MassDOT assumptions
used to evaluate air quality conformity.
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23. Transportation and Mitigation
Plans
• Regional and Local Hazard Mitigation Plans
The Preferred Scenario included identification of areas vulnerable to
flooding and sea level rise. This was used as guidance for the location
of future growth however 20% of the new growth identified was in
these areas. Development of Hazard Mitigation Plans will benefit from
the identification of the “at risk” areas and planning restrictions may
evolve to minimize potential impacts.
• Upper Cape Land Use/Transportation Study
A study that has been proposed is evaluating canal crossing strategies
for the future. The two existing highway bridges are functionally
obsolete and future accommodations will be a major investment.
Aligning the new infrastructure to serve expected development and
respect vulnerable areas in the siting is key to this study.
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24. Comprehensive Economic
Development Strategy
This is where a lot of the related plans come together, defining activity
centers and infrastructure provides a tool for identifying appropriate
locations for different types of development. The Preferred Scenario will
also help define the jobs needed to support future growth.
The CommunityVIZ tool will be used to measure the quality of economic
development activities with respect to meeting specific priorities and the
overall CEDS vision and goals.
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25. National Park Service -
Cape Cod National Seashore
Context
• Created in 1961 as a new model of federal, state, town and private
ownership.
• 43,560 acres in six established towns (27,000 acres federally owned).
• 4-5 million visits per year.
• Complex, multi-jurisdictional management challenges present both
conflict and collaborative opportunities,
• e.g. local and regional resource and land use planning, FLEX
bus.
• Park scientists study dynamic SLR and climate change topics:
• weather, surface water quality, hydrology, shoreline erosion,
habitat and species changes, and salt marsh elevations.
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26. Cape Cod National Seashore
Park Realities regarding Shoreline and Climate Change
• 100-year storm events have occurred 10 times since 1978
• Ongoing loss of beachfront homes
• Relocation of historic lighthouses
• Vulnerability of park buildings, utilities, parking
lots, beach facilities and cultural sites
Source: Cape Cod National Seashore
• Keep staff and visiting public safe during storm, high wind and wave
action, and extreme heat events
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27. Cape Cod National Seashore
Climate Change Planning in 2010-2011
• Interagency Pilot Project
– Funding and participation by NPS staff
– Key partnerships were strengthened or developed through the
interagency efforts and as a result, relationships and information
sharing are bound to grow
• Climate Friendly Parks Action Plan
– Collaboration of the NPS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
– Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions inventory
– Action Plan implementation
– Ongoing monitoring GHG reduction progress and reporting
• NPS Long Range Transportation Planning
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28. Cape Cod National Seashore
Climate Friendly Parks Action Plan Findings
• In 2007, park operation emissions approx. 1,340
metric ton carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2E).
• Cape Cod National Seashore aims to identify
reduction targets for 2020 to reduce:
– Energy GHG emissions from park operations by 25
%
– Transportation GHG emissions from park operations
by 20 %
– Waste GHG emissions from park operations by 10 %
– Total park GHG emissions, including from visitors
and concessioners, by 20%
• Identified numerous strategies for behavioral,
systems, and educational efforts
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29. Cape Cod National Seashore
Climate Friendly Parks Action Plan
Results to Date
900
800 767
691
700
GHG Emissions (MTCO2E)
600
500
397 393 2007
400
2010
300
200
107 112
100
13 17
0
Energy Transportation Waste Other
% Change -10% -1% 5% 31%
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30. Cape Cod National Seashore
Climate Friendly Parks Action Plan: Transportation
• Some Completed Actions
– Flex and Breeze shuttle buses purchased by the NPS and
operated by the CC Regional Transit Authority run on
biodiesel.
– Promote car-free travel options via the SMARTGuide website.
– Switched from diesel to B-20 biodiesel for park vehicles.
• Some Planned Actions
– Continue to reduce meeting travel.
– Implement town beach shuttles and jitneys in
cooperation with local communities.
– Improve bicycle infrastructure as recommended in
the 2010 Bicycle Feasibility Study.
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31. Part III – How can others benefit from this project?
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32. Resources and future projects
• Federal and technology resources (see handout)
• Application of tools/guidelines to existing grants and ongoing planning
activities, such as Sustainable Communities Regional Planning grants
• Replicating the project; interested in communities that are:
1) adjacent to or contiguous public lands
2) able to bring data and - if need be - funding, to the table, and
3) have a similar or different geographical context (interested to apply the
project’s framework to a different type of area, perhaps even inland)
• Coordination with public land agencies
– NPS interested in additional expert elicitations for coastal units
– FWS interested in similar planning efforts for refuges throughout U.S.
• Role of partnerships
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33. Discovery …
New England Municipal
Groton, CT & Sustainability Network
ICLEI
Interagency Cape
Cod Pilot Project
New FEMA Mitigation
HUD/DOT/EPA
England Planning &
Sustainable
Federal RiskMAP
Communities
Partners
Partnership
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34. New England Federal
Collaboration
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35. Climate change & federal
role
What is the Federal role in adapting to and mitigating climate
change?
• Provide climate science & services to help communities make better
decisions that reduce risks to people & property
• Strengthen planning capabilities to help communities develop and
implement strategies
• Incorporate & integrate into existing planning
• Support partnerships that foster coordination, communication, and
collaboration
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36. Awareness …
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37. Partnerships
Value and Importance of Partnerships:
• Awareness and alignment of planning programs and initiatives
• Leveraging resources (aligning grants and funding guidelines, new
opportunities in times of significant fiscal reductions)
• Different perspectives with shared goals and multi-objectives
• Creative problem solving (e.g. red tape cutting, new tools)
• More capacity to support local, state, and tribal planning efforts
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38. Q&A
• Contact information
– Lindsey Morse, Community Planner, USDOT Volpe Center,
lindsey.morse@dot.gov, 617-494-2435
– Clay Schofield, P.E., Transportation Engineer, Cape Cod Commission,
cschofield@capecodcommission.org, 508-744-1231
– Lauren McKean, AICP, Planner, Cape Cod National Park Service,
lauren_mckean@nps.gov, 508-957-0731
– Marie-Annette “Nan” Johnson, Community Planner, FEMA Region 1,
nan.johnson@dhs.gov, 617-378-8024
• Visit http://www.volpe.dot.gov/interagencypilotproject.html for the latest
updates on the project, including final products.
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