2017 Winners
AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, SMALL JURISDICTION
Kittitas County Tourism Infrastructure Plan
Kittitas County, WA
The Kittitas County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) and Lodging Tax Advisory Committee (LTAC) developed a tourism infrastructure plan and strategy for investing lodging tax revenues in tourist supportive infrastructure using a comprehensive mapping of county assets, an innovative method of surveying residents and visitors, and a performance based strategic action plan for maximizing its marketing and promotion results. The Kittitas County Tourism Infrastructure Plan is based on a geo-tourism definition and approach whereby the geographical character of a place - its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage, and the wellbeing of its residents — is sustained and enhanced.
AWARD OF MERIT
BEST PRACTICES
Sacramento County Active Design Guidelines & Collaboration
Sacramento County, CA
Sacramento County is one of the pioneering regions in the nation to have successfully introduced health through "Active Design" into a comprehensive array of building and planning policies, most notably the updated zoning code. On July 22, 2015 the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors adopted a new zoning code and design guidelines that include an Active Design icon highlighting design guidelines that advance physical activity and health, along with an appendix training document on how to implement active design and the relationship to preventative healthcare strategies and chronic disease reduction. Active Design applies these 4 tenets: 1. Walkable and bikeable streets for connectivity and accessibility; 2. Mixed land uses with walkable destinations; 3. Increased landscape and urban forest; and 4. Safety. All of these elements also implement climate resiliency. Adoption and codifying of Active Design and health in this manner is extremely innovative especially for a county, and has not broadly been done nationally. It also brings together Planning and Health in new and replicable ways, and creates new prevention measures for County Public Health Officers. Of particular import is all the active design health work was done by a volunteer cross-sector collaborative health team called Design 4 Active Sacramento (D4AS) formed in 2013, in collaboration with the County. D4AS is comprised of professional experts that include: land use planning, transportation engineering and design, public health, private sector healthcare and community advocacy. D4AS members volunteered over two years of their time to do this important work in order to transform the future built environments into healthier communities. D4AS continues to work with the county, region, state and nationally to advance active and healthy communities.
AWARD OF MERIT
SMALL AREA PLAN
Westlake — Hales Ford Area Plan
Franklin County, VA
This is a small area plan in a burgeoning activity center near Smith Mountain Lake in rural Franklin County. The plan harnessed a grant award from the Virginia Department of Transportation to create a multi-modal, environmentally sensitive and economically viable vision for the area, complete with recommended zoning revisions to implement traditional neighborhood design (TND) principles that codify this vision. An important part of the project methodology was intensive multi-year collaboration with a citizen action committee who designed their own vision document that serves as the foundation for this plan. Of particular interest, the Westlake — Hales Ford Area Plan citizenry is increasingly composed of retired, but still highly active seniors. As a result, the Plan has a focus on senior livability, and the public input that guided the work was heavily influenced by this community. The end result of this senior focus is a plan that promotes mixed land uses, transportation infrastructure conducive to walking, biking and shorter vehicular trips and development patterns that serve multiple generations of Franklin County residents and visitors.