USING CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT AND STAKEHOLDER INPUT TO INFORM A DATA DRIVEN METHODOLOGY FOR REVITALIZING AN URBAN WATERSHED Lisa Werder Brown, Economic Development South/Saw Mill Run Sarah Koenig, GTECH Strategies WHO IS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SOUTH?

• An innovave collaboraon to strengthen communies through real estate, markeng and business development, and transportaon and environmental projects. • Encompasses the neighborhoods and communies extending south from the Liberty Tunnels to the City of Clairton. • Represents approximately 110,000 residents of Allegheny County. • Created the Saw Mill Run Watershed Associaon. WHY CREATE A WATERSHED GROUP? Frequent flooding along the stream and its tributaries has caused: • Disinvestment in the exisng properes • Transportaon and traffic issues • Basement backups • Degraded water quality • Eroded and damaged riparian areas • Negave percepon of the stream All of these issues have inhibited economic development in the partner communies and neighborhoods FOCUS

• Saw Mill Run Watershed • Historic Issues • Creating a watershed organization • Citizen Science and Citizen Engagement • Water Reporter • Green Boulevard Maps Courtesy USACOE Saw Mill Run is open from the West End to Route 88, making it the longest free flowing stream in the city of Pisburgh. The stream is 22 miles long and drains a land area of almost 20 square miles. 12 separate and unique communies are located in the Saw Mill Run Watershed, including more than 14 City of Pisburgh neighborhoods.

WATERSHED MUNICIPALITIES AND NEIGHBORHOODS

• Baldwin Township • City of Pittsburgh Neighborhoods • Bethel Park § Banksville • Brentwood § Beechview • Castle Shannon § Brookline § Carrick • Crafton § Duquesne Heights • Dormont § Hilltop Neighborhoods • Green Tree • Allentown • Mt. Lebanon • Beltzhoover • Bon Air • Mt. Oliver • Knoxville • City of Pittsburgh § Mount Washington • Scott Township § Overbrook • Whitehall § Ridgemont § West End WHY CREATE A WATERSHED GROUP? Our mission is to improve and restore the health and vitality of the streams and communies in the Saw Mill Run Watershed by providing environmental leadership, engaging cizens in direct acon, and developing key partnerships to effect the well-being of the watershed.

People have a sense that nature is something you have to get in your car and drive for hours to see. It can be an eye opening experience for folks when they see that nature is right there – in their neighborhoods, backyards, and alleys – if they only know what to look for.

CITIZEN SCIENCE Organized research in which members of the public engage in the process of scienfic invesgaons: asking quesons, collecng data, and/or interpreng results. • Develop a Mobile App • Stewardship Programming • Data Collecon • Data Analysis

WATER REPORTER • Consists of a nave applicaon for mobile devices, a geo- noficaon system, and an easy to use website. • Cizens, watershed organizaons, and local governments can work as a community to address water quality issues. • Quickly connects a community of involved stakeholders who can follow and hare the full life cycle of a water quality issue from idenficaon to remediaon. • Promotes transparency, collaboraon, and grassroots engagement.

MOBILE APP REPORTS ADMINISTRATION ENGAGING AND EDUCATING

• Series of Saw Mill Run Watershed Days • Bus Tour of the Watershed • Stream Cleanups • Visual Assessments • Continue to work with Municipalities on WQ, Flooding, and Smart Growth Strategies • Sustain Momentum on the Green Blvd GREEN BOULEVARD

The Saw Mill Run valley, from Temperanceville to Fairhaven and possibly beyond, offers a park and parkway opportunity which should not be neglected unl commercial development becomes a serious stumbling block to its realizaon. It is an interesng valley of varying width and form, enclosed by high, steep banks, occasionally wooded; in some parts it is wide enough only for a drive, while in others large, flat meadows make ideal places for play. And Saw Mill Run itself, when it is no longer used as an open sewer, will be an addional element of park value. - Frederick Law Olmsted PROPERTY ACQUISITION ANALYSIS FOR ROUTE 51 GREEN BLVD

Partners: Growth Through Energy + Community Health

Across Allegheny County, we mobilize residents, local policy-makers, and like- minded organizaons to transform vacant spaces into thriving places that everyone can enjoy. HOW DO WE WORK? WORK?

Policy Demonstraon Educaon Advocacy Data Collecon Community Organizing Collaboraon Resource Development Design & Planning Project Implementaon Capacity Building Facilitaon

WHAT DO WE DO? TODAY’S FOCUS • Highlight a unique data-driven approach that was used to create a property acquision framework for transforming a blighted corridor along an impaired stream • Approach can be customized for other land-use related challenges • Project was done in partnership with SMRWA & EDS GREEN BLVD VISION • Enhance environmental, economic, and social health of Route 51 • Replace underulized impervious areas (parking lots & blighted properes) with floodable recreaon & naturalized areas • Improve water quality • Migate flooding • Enhance viability of commercial corridor • Increase property values CASE STUDIES • Saw Mill River (Yonkers, NY) • Rock Creek Park (DC) • Carroll Creek Park (Frederick, MD) OUR PROJECT GOALS

• Benchmark naonal and local best pracces to inform goals and objecves • Develop a decision-making matrix to idenfy parcels for inclusion in the Green Blvd planning effort • Apply matrix to Route 51 & Library Rd corridors • Idenfy short-term & long-term acquision priories STEP 1: OUTLINE GOALS & OBJECTIVES AND ID MEASUREABLE FEATURES Social Environmental Economic • Provide • Improve • Improve recreaonal environmental economic value opportunies & quality & habitat of residenal & increase access to commercial real open space • Improve water estate • Improve quality & manage • Migate the community stormwater effects of blight character & well- • Reduce exposure being of to flooding communies impacts Greenway

Beauficaon Stream access

Viewshed Social Trails and Parks STEP 1B: Recreaon Stream access Transit

DETERMINE Tree canopy CRITERIA & Habitat NHI Greenway METRCICS TO Environmental CSO discharge

ANALYZE PARCELS Stormwater Parcel size FOR GOALS Tree canopy Operang business

& OBJECTIVES Value Property value

Ownership

Economic Property Blight condion

Flood hazard Flooding Flooding History STEP 2: GATHER STAKEHOLDER INPUT

• Developed goals and objecves – Also idenfied ways to measure those objecves with GIS data • Surveyed stakeholders using pairwise comparison – asked to weight the relave importance of each goal compared to 1 other: Goal A vs B then Goal B vs C then Goal A vs C • 141 respondents from a variety of fields STEP 3: CONDUCT PAIRWISE COMPARISON

Goals Objecves Economic: Flooding

Economic Social Economic: Value Social: Beauficaon

Economic: Blight Environmental

Social: Recreaon

Objecves by Priority (highest to lowest) Environmental: Stormwater Social: Beauficaon Environmental: Environmental: Stormwater Habitat Environmental: Habitat Economic: Flooding Social: Recreaon Economic: Blight Economic: Value Greenway 0.1339

Beauficaon Stream access 0.2678 0.1339

Viewshed* Results from criteria 0.000 Social 0.3613 analysis were then Trails and Parks 0.0312 assigned weights*

Recreaon Stream access STEP 3A: 0.0935 0.0312

Transit APPLY 0.0312 Tree canopy 0.0446

WEIGHTING Habitat NHI 0.1337 0.0446

Greenway 0.0446 TO GOALS, Environmental 0.3695 CSO discharge OBJECTIVES, 0.0786 Stormwater Parcel size 0.2357 0.0786

Tree canopy & CRITERIA 0.0786

Operang business Goals, Metrics, and Criteria 0.0270 With Weighng from Pairwise Comparison* Value Property value 0.0811 0.0270

Ownership 0.0270

Economic 0.2692 Blight Property condion 0.0921 0.0921

Flood hazard 0.0480 Flooding 0.0960 Flooding History 0.0480 STEP 4: CONDUCT MULTI-CRITERIA SPATIAL ANALYSIS

Adjacent or within Parcel A exisng greenway Greenway score = 2

<1/8 mile from Parcel B exisng greenway Greenway score = 1

For each criteria, >1/8 mile from Parcel C exisng greenway metrics were Greenway score = 0 used to analyze each parcel. STEP 5: COMBINE MCSA RESULTS WITH WEIGHTING

Each parcel gets a value for each Parcel A criteria based on spaal analysis 2 x 0.1339 = 0.2678

Next, those values are mulplied by the weighng derived from stakeholder input

Each parcel receives a final score that is based upon spaal analysis mulplied by weighng from stakeholder input for each of the 18 criteria STEP 6: RANK PARCELS IN SUPPORT OF LONG-TERM VISION

Map has been removed to protect details about individual properes STEP 7: IDENTIFY 1ST PRIORITY FOR ACQUISITION

Map has been removed to protect details about individual properes CONCLUSION • Naonal & local best pracces + input from 141 stakeholders + mul-criteria spaal analysis = customized methodology applied to 451 parcels to help idenfy property acquision strategy • Intenonally adaptable due to long term nature of project / scale of vision • Data-driven approaches can help beer understand how to meet mulple and somemes compeng objecves