Homer Alaska - News -

Story last updated at 10:09 PM on Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Landscape suitability maps released

Tool can help land owners plan development

BY MICHAEL ARMSTRONG
STAFF WRITER

"Location, location, location" is the classic answer to the question of what is the most important factor in real estate. That's also the answer to the question of the most suitable areas to develop property: the location of wetlands, habitat, open space, steep slopes and soil. Map all these factors on individual overlays and put them together, and you come up with a landscape suitability map that shows the best and worst places to develop property.

Last week, David Scheer and Allegra Bukojemsky of DnA Design and Tara Schmidt of the Homer Soil and Water Conservation District did several workshops showing the preliminary results of DnA's project. Under a contract with the Soil and Water Conservation District, DnA put together maps showing landscape information, with a final big blue-and-white map suggesting the best places to develop "best" defined in environmental terms. Some planners have begun using the phrase "green infrastructure" to define land elements like wetlands and habitat in the same way roads and utilities are mapped.

"The primary goal has been to determine the highest and best use of land," Scheer said of the project. "Often times, the highest and best use is to leave the green infrastructure in place."

The goal of the land suitability mapping project is to come up with two final maps, Scheer said: a map showing land best suited for development and a map showing land best suited for green infrastructure. The map includes the city of Homer as well as outlying areas on Diamond Ridge and east to Kachemak City.

About 20 people, many of them real estate agents or developers, attended a workshop last Thursday. Scheer emphasized that the landscape suitability maps didn't mean tougher zoning.

"We don't at all want this to be regulatory," he said.

In fact, the maps can help developers avoid regulation by agencies like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. If developers use the maps to identify high-value wetlands and don't build there, they won't have to get permits, Bukojemsky noted. The maps also can be used to identify areas expensive to build in, such as on steep slopes or on poor soils.

The Homer Soil and Water Conservation District also is exploring a "good stewardship" program that encourages land owners to preserve green infrastructure through incentives.

Following a specific points-based process where they do things like set aside conservation or trails easements, developers can get green infrastructure certification and possibly lower-interest construction loans. The details on that aren't completely worked out, though.

That's one thing the district is interested in discussing with developers and landowners: would they want to explore a good stewardship program? What incentives would make developers more likely to protect green infrastructure and join an incentive program?

At last Thursday's workshop, Scheer and Bukojemsky guided people through the process. Come up and look at the maps. See where you have property and what the maps show about your land. They noted that not all the information has been field checked the maps so far have been identified as "draft" or "preliminary." DnA welcomes more information and local knowledge from landowners and asked for corrections or additions at the workshops.

The Landscape Suitability Map program is being done with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service Rivers, Trails and Conservation Assistantship. A booklet outlining the project and the good stewardship incentive program was passed out at the workshops, as were comment forms. More information is available from the conservation district offices at 4014 Lake Street, Homer, by calling Schmidt at 235-8177, ext. 5, or at www.suitabilitymap.org.

Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.

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