Virginia Coastal Program: 2005 Coastal Grant Project Description and Final Summary
Project Task:
FY2005 Task 46
Grantee:
Northern Neck Planning District Commission
Project Title:
Technical Assistance Program
Project Description as Proposed:
The NNPDC’s
Coastal Resources Technical Assistance Program provides support
to the four counties of the Northern Neck as they cope with ongoing
development pressure, and the Northern Neck Chesapeake Bay Public
Access Authority (NNCBPAA). The NNPDC FY 05 environmental work program
will consist of nine tasks:
1) NNPDC staff will provide coastal management support to local
governments, planning commissions, and local planning staff. NNPDC
staff will provide GIS analysis of land development proposals, land
conversion, and land use plans.
2) Support of local planning staff education, training and coordination
through quarterly Coastal Manager’s Meetings.
3) NNPDC revision/update of an additional 5 digital tax maps (including
inserts) for Northumberland County, building on previous grant year
work, and will continue until the entire tax map layer for Northumberland
is updated.
4) Westmoreland County tax maps will be overlaid with 2002 Aerial
Photos and large format hard copy maps will be printed. Sixty-two
maps will be printed, covering the entire County of Westmoreland,
and will be used in county day-to-day planning activities, as well
as site plan review.
5) NNPDC will continue agricultural conservation planning research
by re-registering existing digitized farm fields GIS layer for Lancaster
County to 2002 aerial photographs. Data from the NNSWCD will be
attached to the GIS map layer to identify farm fields in the County
covered by nutrient management plans, and best management practices
since 2002 (the last time the data was updated).
6) NNPDC staff will provide staff support for formation of the NNCBPAA
by creating an audio/visual presentation and presenting it before
the four Northern Neck County Boards of Supervisors to encourage
participation in the Authority.
7) NNPDC staff will assist in forming the organization structure
so that the NNCBPAA can legally operate, and provide administrative
support for the authority's activities.
8) NNPDC staff will complete a Potential Public Water Access Site
Inventory that includes maps, and site characteristics, building
on previous work completed by the NNPDC relating to historic steamboat
landings.
9) NNPDC staff will produce a NNCBPA public outreach brochure that
outlines the history of the authority, the purpose of and the benefits
of the NNCBPA to the general citizenry.
Federal Funding:
$47,500
Project Contact:
Stuart McKenzie - 804.333.1900: smckenzie@nnpdc17.state.va.us
Project Status:
Project Completed
Final Product Received:
Project Summary Provided by Grantee:
The Northern Neck Planning District Commission (NNPDC) supports the four counties in the Northern Neck with various types of technical assistance.
This grant year, the NNPDC produced site analysis maps for properties in counties for rezoning and site application review. These consist of overlaying the property in question with the USGS Topo, Aerial Photo, Chesapeake Bay Resource Protection Area, NWI Wetlands, Shrink-Swell Soils, and Septic Suitability data layers. This allows the county to identify the environmental constraints of the site so appropriate development can be situated away from sensitive areas.
The NNPDC also provides coastal management support by hosting quarterly meetings of state agencies, PDC staff, and county land use planners. In addition to providing a forum for county environmental issues, the NNPDC also provides valuable training opportunities to the county staff on various coastal issues.
This grant year training/workshops were conducted on Low Impact Development, Conservation Subdivision Design – featuring nationally known expert Randall Arendt as the presenter, Living Shorelines, and ArcView GIS Software Training.
Ongoing projects include the revision/updating of five digital tax maps for Northumberland County. Revision of the digital tax maps will continue until all 52 maps are revised for the county. In order to aid the staff of Westmoreland County in citizen service, the NNPDC created and printed all of the county’s 62 tax maps overlaying the 2002 Virginia Base Mapping Program Aerial Photographs. These hard copy, full size, aerial photograph tax maps are envisioned to be used at the counter to assist citizens in locating their property and to help those staff persons who are not familiar with GIS software. The NNPDC created an agricultural conservation plan inventory in FY00, by digitizing farm fields and gathering conservation plan info from federal and state agencies. The original farm field layers were digitized using old, un-rectified aerial photographs, so the positional accuracy of the farm fields was low. In order to correct this, the NNPDC is revising each county’s farm layer when requested. This grant year, Lancaster County’s farm conservation plan inventory was revised, using the 2002 VBMP Aerial photographs. After attaching conservation plan data to the newly revised farm fields, the distribution of agricultural conservation planning in the County easily shown.
The remainder of this grant project focused on laying the groundwork for, and forming the Northern Neck Chesapeake Bay Access Authority (NNCBPAA). NNPDC staff created a presentation to give to the four County’s Board of Supervisors, to explain the goal and purpose of the Authority, and to encourage them to join. Three of the four Northern Neck counties joined, with Richmond County declining to join the Authority. NNPDC staff provided logistical support, and two meetings of the Authority were held. The first meeting examined existing water access sites, while the second meeting detailed potential new water access sites. These meetings were supported by mapping, produced by the NNPDC, that shows both the existing and potential sites, identified by NNPDC staff, with the USGS topo map and the aerial photo as a backdrop. These sites were compiled into an atlas for future efforts in purchasing land for access sites and infrastructure improvements to the sites. Upon further examination, some potential sites may be removed from the atlas, while new potential sites might be added.
Finally, the NNPDC created an outreach brochure for the Authority to increase public visibility. Since there are no accomplishments yet to highlight, the brochure encouraged public input for nominations for new water access sites in the Northern Neck of Virginia.
Disclaimer: This project summary provides the federal dollars initially awarded to the grantee. Due to underexpenditure or reprogramming of grant funds, this figure may change. For more information on the allocation of coastal grant funds, please contact Laura McKay, Virginia Coastal Program Manager, at 804.698.4323 or email: Laura.McKay@deq.virginia.gov
A more detailed Scope of Work for this project is available. Please direct your request for a copy to Virginia.Witmer@deq.virginia.gov
