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Over the past year and a half, Kirby Date, coordinator of the Countryside Program, has been privileged to serve on the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Blue Ribbon Panel for Balanced Growth in the Lake Erie Watershed. The Panel has at this point set a schedule and plan for completion of their work in 2003, so we thought it a good time to update our readers on the project.

In 2000, the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, State of Ohio Agency in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, completed its Lake Erie Protection and Restoration Plan. The plan established ten guiding principles for a sustainable Lake Erie Watershed for the purpose of “attaining a living equilibrium between a strong diversified economy and a healthy Lake Erie Ecosystem”. The principles include provisions that address the need for habitat and hydrology protection and restoration, the need to protect open spaces and farmland, and the need to provide concentrated, efficient patterns of development through urban reinvestment and efficient transportation systems.

The Plan then sets out 84 strategic actions. Among 11 actions identified as highest priority is H-8, “Commission a Balanced Growth Blue Ribbon Task Force, comprised of government officials, business leaders, conservationists, academia, agriculture and other stakeholder groups to be charged with advising the Lake Erie Commission on ways to develop strategies that will balance the protection of the Lake Erie watershed with continued economic growth.” A second high priority strategic action is H-5, “Publish and distribute a Lake Erie Model Zoning Ordinance and Building Code by 2003 and encourage its voluntary acceptance by local communities.” The second action has been incorporated into the Balanced Growth Panel effort through a model zoning work group, with Kirby Date acting as the current leader. The Panel also includes two additional work groups addressing recommendations for State Policy and Funding, and Regional Planning and Incentives.

The Model Zoning Work Group has evaluated twenty possible subject areas for development of a model. Six have been selected as highest priority, including: 1) Stormwater protection, wetlands and floodplain protection, and riparian setbacks; 2) Residential and Commercial Conservation Development; 3) Meadow protection; 4) Coastal Protection; 5) Source Water Protection; and 6) Traditional Neighborhood Development. Seven additional subject areas will be endorsed with advisory information rather than a model code, including steep slope protection, scenic/historic protection, woodland protection, brownfields, agricultural lands protection, access management, and transfer of development rights.

Two other work groups are looking at alternative ways in which state government can encourage sustainable development in the Lake Erie watershed. The mission of the "Planning & Incentives" workgroup is to recommend state actions and incentives that will promote the development and implementation of regional plans. The third workgroup, "State Policy & Funding Practices" will identify current state practices that inadvertently degrade the watershed, and recommend changes that will support the 10 Guiding Principles.

For more information on the Balanced Growth Initiative, contact the Ohio Lake Erie Commission at 419-245-2514, or go to the web site at www.epa.state.oh.us/oleo.