But how are you going to pay for it?

Needless to say, this is where many of the best community betterment ideas fall apart. You have to be pretty savvy about state and federal buraeaucracy in order to know where to look for funding. And you have to be diligent in fulfilling all the requirements for funding — then patient with the often lengthy selection process.

Fact is, there is simply not enough money to go around for all the well-conceived pedestrian/bicycle pathway and sidewalk projects that are out there — so you have to make damn sure your proposed project stands out as one of the best. That takes good planning, good research, a solid consensus — and yes, a good grant writer.

Pedestrian and shared-use facilities do not come cheap, even though the right-of-way (ROW) width and the pathway surface generally amount to far less than what motorized traffic would require. Even a relatively small project involving only a mile of pathway with a stone-dust (not paved) surface and only a few accessory structures or amenities can easily amount to close to a million dollars.

Most communities find that funding from outside (mainly State and Federal) sources is absolutely essential in order to make such a project affordable to local taxpayers. It’s a good idea to start early and learn as much as you can about these funding sources: their eligibility requirements, the degree and type of funding each can offer, where to contact them for advice, and how and when to file an application.

So herewith, a brief rundown of some of the main funding sources you should not overlook:

Transportation Enhancements Program (TEP): The Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP) is a federal reimbursement program under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), administered by the New York Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). Since transportation systems are influenced and impacted by more than the condition of the traditional highway and bridge infrastructure, this program enables funding for transportation projects of cultural, aesthetic, historic and environmental significance. Eligible projects must fall into one or more of the twelve Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) categories, and the program requires a local matching share of 20% of eligible project costs.

Recreational Trails Program: In New York, RTP is a program of the NYS Department of Transportation administered by the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP). The Recreational Trails Program is a State-administered, Federal assistance program to provide and maintain recreational trails for both motorized and non-motorized recreational trail use. Eligible projects must: a.) be legally and physically accessible to the public, or be a portion of an identified trailways project which, when completed, will be legally and physically accessible to the public; b.) be physically and environmentally developable as a trailway; c.) be planned and developed under the laws, policies and administrative procedures of the State; and d.) be identified in, or further a specific goal of, a trail plan referenced in the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) required by the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, or the State Recreational Trail Plan.

Transportation Improvements Program (TIP): The U.S. Dept. of Transportation requires that every municipal planning organization (MPO) develop a Transportation Improvements Program, or TIP. The TIP is a staged, multi-year program of projects; it identifies the timing and funding of all highway, bridge, transit, intelligent transportation system, bicycle, and pedestrian transportation projects scheduled for implementation in the region during the next five years using federal transportation funds. Since each regional MPO develops its own TIP, you’ll need to contact the one that covers your locality. Here are the links for transportation MPOs in New York State:

Is your community walkable? Can the people in your neighborhood safely get from their homes to the central business district without a car if they choose to? Can your children walk (and/or bike) safely to school? Does your community have the basic recreational facilities needed to offer healthy lifestyle alternatives for adults and children alike?

Many communities around the state are grappling with these issues and finding cost-effective ways to enhance their local multi-modal transportation for all of their citizens — including those who choose to walk or bike for short errands or for sheer exercise. The key word here is multimodal, which refers to the availability of multiple transportation options, especially within a system or corridor. A multimodal system offers safe transportation facilities for pedestrians and bikers as well as cars, trucks and mass transit.

Pedestrian facilities such as sidewalks, and shared-use facilities such as bike-ped. pathways, are an absolutely vital amenity in any community. In this connection, we were gratified to see our local newspaper devote space to the topic as a leading Op-Ed piece last night. Among other things, the Canandaigua Daily Messenger noted,

In many cases, some local government officials are stuck in a car mindset and too often encourage their use, even when it’s not necessary. Ideas that encourage walking and bicycling ought to be considered more often here, particularly as problems associated with obesity mount.
Children and their parents are heavier than they used to be, and the diseases that result — and their effect on the health care system — rank near the top of public health issues today.
Communities where it’s easier for folks to walk rather than hop in the car are not only greener, but healthier.

The good news is that there is no shortage of guidance available for local leaders who are ready to take the initiative to develop a more pedestrian-friendly, bicycle-friendly community. One recent publication from SUNY Albany’s “Initiative for Healthy Infrastructure” is pictured here — just click on the image to download.The SUNY/Albany IHI guidebook will be of immense value to Town and Village boards, as it provides well thought out model language for many of the policies and ordinances that must be adopted in order to foster more walkable, bikeable communities. What it comes down to is that provisions designed to encourage bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure need to be written into each of the three main cornerstones of local government policy: (1) the Comprehensive Plan, (2) Subdivision Regulations, and (3) Zoning Laws and Site Plan Review. Policy, once properly drafted and adopted, will be the key vehicle for change.

Sound policy-making helps set the stage, but then your community needs to plan for specific facilities, and get outside funding if possible in order to make the planned facilities more affordable to local residents.

Planning for bicycle-pedestrian facilities generally calls for a collective effort aimed at community visioning. There are many great resources on the Web to help you approach the visioning process, and in many cases it will be beneficial to have an experienced outside facilitator come in and lead you through a community visioning workshop or two. The outside facilitator can bring fresh insights and ideas to the table that will help stimulate thinking about alternative approaches to pedestrian/bicycle facility development. Here’s how one community I was recently involved with did it — and the ped/bike facility they settled on is now fully funded and approaching completion of final design.

In a future post we will take a look at some of the funding options that are available to help develop pedestrian and bicycle facilities. In the meantime, here are a few links that we have found extremely useful in the planning phase for pedestrian/bicycle facilities development:

Pedestrian & Bicycle Information Center: The Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) is a national clearinghouse for information about health and safety, engineering, advocacy, education, enforcement, access, and mobility for pedestrians (including transit users) and bicyclists. The PBIC serves anyone interested in pedestrian and bicycle issues, including planners, engineers, private citizens, advocates, educators, police enforcement, and the health community.

Benefit-Cost Analysis of Bicycle Facilities: How much do bicycle facilities cost? Can we quantify their benefits? In what cases do estimates of benefits outweigh costs? If your community is considering building a new bicycle facility, you can use this tool to estimate costs, the demand in terms of new cyclists, and measured economic benefits (e.g., time savings, increased livability, decreased health costs, a more enjoyable ride).

The Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center — Pedestrian & Bicycle Safety: Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), The Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Research Web site provides information on issues and research related to improving pedestrian and bicyclist (pedalcyclist) safety. The purpose of this Web site is to foster public awareness of pedestrian and bicycle safety matters, and to provide resources for use at the national, State and local levels.

EPA is providing more than $500,000 in technical assistance for 16 Brownfields Sustainability Pilots. The assistance will benefit communities by helping them to achieve greener, more sustainable assessment, cleanup, and redevelopment at their brownfields projects through activities such as materials recycling, green building and green infrastructure design, energy efficiency, water conservation, renewable energy development, and native landscaping. The pilots will also serve as demonstration projects providing models for other communities across the country. Each pilot project will receive between $20,000 and $50,000 in contractor support for their sustainable brownfields activities.

Examples of pilots include:

• Analysis of green roof systems for a brownfields project in Roxbury, Massachusetts
• Feasibility analysis of reusing and recycling materials from shuttered textile mills in Valley, Alabama
• Green building and green infrastructure design at a former smelter in San Juan County, Colorado
• Assistance with green building design and providing community sustainability training at a former gas station being converted into a community center in Portland, Oregon

For more information, visit the EPA Brownfields Website at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields.

Just for the record:

According to a related EPA press release,

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In January 2002, President Bush signed the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act, which increased funding, expanded authority, and provided liability protection to help communities revitalize brownfields. EPA provides grants, technical assistance and training to support local brownfields efforts.

The funding is very limited, and only sixteen pilot projects will be undertaken. Still, if you have a potentially eligible brownfields site and some innovative ideas, perhaps we should talk.

]]> http://www.sustainable-ny.org/2008/07/funding-alert-technical-assistance-for-brownfields-sustainability-pilots/feed/ http://www.sustainable-ny.org/2008/07/funding-alert-epa-grant-to-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ http://www.sustainable-ny.org/2008/07/funding-alert-epa-grant-to-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions/#comments Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:51:23 +0000 Chris Nill http://www.sustainable-ny.org/?p=13 This late-breaking item, from the latest issue of Grants Action News: Though the deadline is very close, community leaders and county planners will want to take note that the Environmental Protection Agency is making local grants available for projects designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Energy Efficiency, Clean Energy, and Corporate Greenhouse Gas Management

Environmental Protection Agency

This grant program, offered by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is intended to advance clean energy programming and policies through cost-effective strategies. The EPA through the Climate Protection Partnerships Division (CPPD) is committed to reducing greenhouse gases through energy-efficiency, clean energy and corporate greenhouse gas management by employing cost-effective partnerships with industries in all appropriate sectors of our economy. The outcomes for projects supported by this grant may be environmental, behavioral, health-related, or programmatic in nature, but must be quantitative. They may not necessarily be achievable within an assistance agreement funding period. Projects to be funded under this announcement are expected to support outcomes including a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases by creating a lasting change in the market for energy efficient products, services, and/or best practices.

ELIGIBILITY: State governments, county, city and/or township governments, public and state controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education.

FUNDING: The total estimated funding for this competitive opportunity is approximately $6,000,000. The EPA anticipates awarding 1-10 grants, ranging in annual value from $40,000 to $90,000. Additionally, the EPA anticipates awarding 4-10 cooperative agreements, ranging in annual value from $100,000 to $250,000.

DEADLINE: August 8, 2008.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Attn: Kayla Roach, Climate Protection Partnerships Division, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20460; or call (202) 343-9186; or e-mail: roach.kayla@epa.gov.

…The response deadline is awfully close, but this opportunity may come up again next year. You can read the full Request for Proposals (RFP) here.

NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation

The 2008-09 New York State budget provided funding to the NYS Housing Trust Fund Corporation (HTFC) for the development and administration of a subprime foreclosure prevention services program. Under the program, the HTFC will be making grants to not-for-profit organizations to provide outreach and education, counseling, legal services and court-based services to New York homeowners who hold subprime or unconventional home loans who are at risk of foreclosure or default. Collaborative proposals by multiple not-for-profit organizations are strongly encouraged to ensure that all necessary services are offered throughout the state in an efficient manner that decreases duplication and maximizes the impact of public resources. Proposals may be submitted immediately.

ELIGIBILITY: Not-for-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) incorporation.

FUNDING: A total of $20 million is expected to be made available for this grant.

DEADLINE: The application process is continuous and will operate until all program funds have been disbursed.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Caillin Furnari, Housing and Community Development Assistant, Community Services Bureau, Division of Housing and Community Renewal, (518) 473-8273, or contact Anna Oles, Homeownership Coordinator, Housing Trust Fund, (518) 474-6082.

Many community-based organizations throughout New York State are on the front lines supporting homeowners as well as renters in the battle against homelessness. Here’s an opportunity to take that laudable work one step further, to meet the immediate challenge of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that is affecting families all across the state.

Sustainable communities need to have sustainable infrastructure. Now you can check the safety of the bridges you cross in upstate New York — or anywhere else in the U.S.

This MSNBC map shows the condition and inspection dates for more than 100,000 bridges in the U.S. that are crossed by at least 10,000 vehicles per day. The records come from the latest National Bridge Inventory, as analyzed by msnbc.com. Inspections through 2006 are included. Only bridges, on/off ramps and overpasses within .2 miles of your chosen route are shown. The locations were provided by state departments of transportation. Some states are more accurate than others in mapping their bridges.

Go to the Bridge Tracker, and just type in a hypothetical trip, say, from Buffalo to Albany. How many bridges along that route are structurally deficient? Obsolete? Or just OK? When was each bridge built? When was it last inspected? It’s all there at the Bridge Tracker, and some of the information might persuade you to hold onto that steering wheel a little tighter on your next road trip.

For the full story on bridge inspections, go to http://bridges.msnbc.com.

How will we pay for sustainable bridge infrastructure in the Empire State? Indeed, what will sustainable infrastructure (roads, bridges, water, sewer, power, telecommunications) even look like in this, the twenty-first century? Will we even be driving cars and trucks on roads at all fifty years from now? (…And if that time horizon simply seems too far “out there,” just take a look at the MSNBC bridge map and you’ll see that many of the bridges we drive on today are already 50 years old — and older!)

Indeed, ‘tomorrow’ is today, and it’s going to take a lot of brains and money to get us out of this pickle. I hope we can come back to this critical issue in future posts. Meanwhile, what are your ideas?

• Fifty neighbors get together and present a petition to the town board, asking for - no, demanding - public water supply.
• Or a new law like Sarbanes-Oxley comes down the pike, and your community-based nonprofit has to figure out all the ramifications of compliance - and quickly.
• Or that congested highway ribbon in the next town over is pushing your way, and developers are already beginning to buy up productive farmland in your town. What do they plan to do? Who knows? When will something happen? Sooner than you think.

Local leaders and administrators do their best to meet these varied challenges, and on the whole I think they do a commendable job. It is frequently noted that crisis can be the mother (or is it the father?) of opportunity. While it is true we often see salutary outcomes - even from time to time some truly innovative solutions - in response to crisis, nevertheless there is a disturbing tendency to plan more and more in response to today’s crises rather than in pursuit of a shared vision for tomorrow.

I am talking about the difference between reactive and proactive planning - a difference which has all the world to do with making communities truly sustainable in the long run. Reactive planning can fix an immediate problem, but only proactive planning can forge a shared vision for a sustainable future.

Why is sustainable development rarely achievable through reactive planning approaches which respond only to the exigencies of the moment? At the risk of sounding flippant, it’s because they respond only to the exigencies of the moment! Sustainable development requires a comprehensive approach, and reactive planning tends to focus narrowly on the crisis at hand. Sustainable development requires a community vision generated from broad-based community input, and that requires a healthy level of productive civic engagement. Civic engagement may take many forms, from attendance at public workshops to filling out a community visioning survey.

Reactive planning rarely relies on anything like systematic community visioning, because by definition it occurs only in response to a specific need or threat. That need or threat is already palpably clear to one and all (so the reasoning goes), so why waste time analyzing it? And indeed, many a community project is successfully brought to the point of ribbon-cutting this way. And yes, almost all of them certainly satisfy a real need or mitigate a real threat.

But here at Sustainable-NY.org we aim to cultivate communities with vision. Communities that know where they want to go, and have a plan to get there. Indeed, not just a plan, but a community consensus.

These remarks are aimed at community leaders of all stripes - those who hold elective office as well as those who volunteer their time on their community’s behalf - and also the leaders who run community-based human service organizations throughout the state. While I’ve employed here some of the most popular “buzz words” in planning and community development, I hope that in doing so I’ve been able to place them in a more meaningful context for you; one which community leaders in upstate New York hopefully can relate to.

Take the time to find out more about community visioning at these great websites:

• Mapping the Future: From the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, this program was awarded the 2005 Outstanding Program award by the Community Development Society (CDS), in recognition of “superior programming that exemplifies and positively influences community development practice.” And though we are here in upstate New York, the basic principles transfer very nicely.
• The Community Tool Box: From the University of Kansas, The Community Tool Box is designed to “promote community health and development by connecting people, ideas and resources.” Many useful tools and tips here, including a model for community change and improvement that can be replicated in your community.
• Community and Economic Development Tool Box: From the Community and Rural Development Institute at Cornell University, here’s a tool box that contains a wealth of great resources, including a Community Visioning Notebook which will guide you through the whole visioning process, with important observations on the nuances you should be aware of.

Postscript: The title of this blog entry actually comes from a book I read in grad school; you can browse it here, and you can buy it at your favorite bookseller. It’s a pretty academic treatise which most professional planners are probably already familiar with. Today’s blog entry is simply my riff on the topic, not necessarilly trying to summarize the book, but hopefully reaching a wider audience with some valuable observations on planning.

We see encouraging signs that New York State agriculture is making strides towards adopting more sustainable management practices - and Finger Lakes viticulture is no exception. The other day we were pleased to see a newsletter in the mail from Hosmer Winery which among other things talked about the progress they are making towards sustainable grape production. The folks at Hosmer recently completed a “Sustainable Viticulture Self-Assessment Workbook” in order to take a close look at their production practices and how they might be improved.

Hosmer, it turns out, scored pretty well in terms of sustainability, but - as they are quick to acknowledge - there is always room for improvement. Indeed, “continuous improvement” is the watchword in every successful business. Congratulations to the Hosmer Winery people on their pursuit of sustainable management practices!

The Sustainable Viticulture Self-Assessment which Hosmer undertook should really be on the “To Do” list for every vineyard, large and small, throughout New York State. We know there are others out there who like Hosmer have already done the self-assessment - but others have not. The self-assessment workbook is a joint effort between Cornell Cooperative Extension, the New York Farm Viability Institute, and the Northeast Center for Risk Management Education. You can find the workbook, along with lots of other great sustainability resources, at www.vinebalance.com. In the final analysis, New York agriculture in general, and New York viticulture in particular, will survive these tough times only through responsible stewardship and sustainable management practices. It’s good for the bottom line, too.

The lay reader (i.e., Joe and Jane Citizen who enjoy a glass or two now and then but are not much into plant husbandry beyond the potted African violets in their kitchen) might find the following five-part discussion of sustainable viticulture, brought to us by American Feast, quite interesting:

Sustainable Viticulture in the Napa Valley Pt. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TylPIZwuFZY

Sustainable Viticulture in the Napa Valley Pt. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TylPIZwuFZY

Sustainable Viticulture in the Napa Valley Pt. 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQ7s2mZT7Ro

Sustainable Viticulture in the Napa Valley Pt. 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITMTwYAkudg

Sustainable Viticulture in the Napa Valley Pt. 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FhoNEGmCZs

…This group of videos is from Cailfornia - but hey, we won’t hold that against them!

Uncork New York!

Where is upstate New York headed? I believe the whole upstate region has enormous potential, and through wise management we may face a very bright future indeed. Your community does not have to be a place that young people just want to leave as soon as they graduate. My community does not have to be the place that cars only pass through on their way to Somewhere Else.

My community today actually shows some promising signs that it is becoming a destination in its own right — indeed, a place where young people would prefer to raise their families. What about your community?

The key to a brighter future lies in sound planning and rational management practices: carefully managing our resources, our assets, our opportunities, and even the risks we face. And wise management begins at the community level. Therefore this blog is dedicated to sharing with all New Yorkers some of the tools, strategies, and best practices that have made communities here in New York and elsewhere more prosperous, secure and livable — in a word, more sustainable.

This is a blog about the possibilities for upstate New York.

Don’t get me wrong: clearly these are tough times for upstate New York and for the nation as a whole, with new constraints and vexing challenges that will challenge our ingenuity. But we possess a great deal of ingenuity, and my faith in the ability of New Yorkers to apply their ingenuity to building more sustainable communities is unsurpassed. I believe in upstate New York.

Some say that nothing good will happen anywhere in this state until we lower the tax burden, eliminate unnecessary regulations and fix the broken political system in Albany. There is a lot of truth to what some of these commentators say, yet for the most part I will leave tax policy and political issues for other bloggers to deal with. Lord knows, there is no shortage of them on the Internet.

This entry will serve to inaugurate the blog that I call “Sustainable-NY.” In the days to come I hope it will evolve into a vital source of ideas and a challenging forum for discussion concerning the resources, tools and strategies we can apply today in order to build a better tomorrow.

This blog is about what communities and community-based organizations in New York can do for themselves, even in the face of an onerous tax regime state-wide and gridlock in Albany. It turns out there is a lot we can do for ourselves. (And there’s even more we can do with a little help from the State and Federal programs that do work.) The idea behind this blog — its purpose, really — is to connect people with ideas and tools from a variety of sources, so that change will happen in your community, and in mine.

At a recent NYCOM conference in Buffalo we learned about the “university connection” and the important role it can play in helping upstate New York communities achieve their goals with respect to economic development, “Main Street” revitalization and sustainable paths to local prosperity.

By the “university connection” we mean the whole constellation of colleges and universities all across the state, and the many different ways in which their resources and services can be tapped by local leaders in our towns, villages and cities. We are indeed fortunate to have here in New York one of the highest concentrations of institutions of higher learning of nearly anyplace in the whole country. Upstate New York communities - including very small communities in some of the most rural counties of the state - need to get in touch with what our universities have to offer.

At the NYCOM conference in Buffalo the speakers in the breakout session on this topic represented Niagara University and the University at Buffalo. During their valuable presentation they summarized eight specific ways in which communities can utilize the resources and services of higher education:

1. Courses, studios and workshops

2. Grant writing assistance

3. Technical assistance in terms of service delivery

4. Technical assistance in terms of information technology

5. General research

6. Specific research

7. Speakers & forums

8. Online or other public resources

Here at Sustainable NY we were already familiar with several important, university-based information portals relating to community development in the region. We have them bookmarked and have relied on them for quite some time. The NYCOM session prompted us to look up a few more. Herewith, a list of valuable community outreach Web sites representing several major universities all across the state:

The Regional Institute (University at Buffalo)

The Regional Knowledge Network (University at Buffalo)

Community and Rural Development Institute (Cornell University)

The Center for Technology in Government (SUNY/Albany)

The SUNY/Oswego Sustainability Initiative

Lake Ontario Coastal Initiative (SUNY/Brockport)

New York State Wind Energy Information Collaborative (Hobart & William Smith Colleges)

ESF Outreach: A Better World Through Environmental Discovery (SUNY/ESF at Syracuse)

Take a look at a few of these university links, and you will begin to get a feel for the wealth of information and assistance that is out there in the university community. By delving into these great Web sites you can harness the power of New Yorks great universities and put it to work in your community.

]]> http://www.sustainable-ny.org/2007/04/the-university-connection/feed/