At 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, we’ll have Trudy Rice, vice-chair of the ECO2 Commission, here to talk about the commission’s latest report on preserving open space and developing industrial land. ECO2 will have a series of public meetings starting Thursday and running through October 19th to take comment on their plans. Read about the proposals.

Moderator

This is Laura McHugh, 6 News Reporter. We’ll be starting our chat with ECO2 Vice Chair Trudy Rice in just a few minutes.

Moderator

Let’s get started. Trudy, thank you for joining us today. Would you mind giving us an overview of ECO2’s latest report.

Trudy Rice

Eco2isa longrange plan that will jointly move forward both industrial and openspace projects in Douglas County.

ThomasJefferson

I think the proposal to preserve open space and greenways is a great idea. I understand that $5 million will be allocated for this initially. If another business park is established, would another $5 million be available?

Trudy Rice

Currently there is not a dollar amount allocated for either industrial or open space projects. The 5 million number has been used as an example of the net equity concept that ECO2 is built on.

anthro

What will ECO2 do for the preservation of farm land?

Trudy Rice

Net Equity is explained that the public cost for industrial development will be matched with the same amount of public dollars for open space projects.

Trudy Rice

The Farmland site project could be developed using the ECO2 tools and become a demonstration of the potential benefit of ECO2.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus

One of the complaints about greenspace proposals heard around here is that it will raise everybody’s taxes. Is this true?

Trudy Rice

However, if you mean open farm land in the county, ECO2 is a tool to provide for the preservation of farm land under the open space segement. Providing, that there is a willing landowner.

lunacydetector

Since ECO2 could be rewarding some of the same people who have fought the SLT for almost 20 years, what assurances do we have that the 32nd Street alignment will get approval from the environmentalists if they get their 5 Million bucks?

Trudy Rice

There is a number of funding options for the ECO2 plan. Taxes is one of them. However, with the development of more industrial sites in our county we can diversify the tax base.
The elected officials will make the decision on how to fund this concept.

Trudy Rice

ECO2 is seperate from the SLT. ECO2 is designed to be a tool to find common ground and move both Industrial and Openspace projects forward to increase the quality of life in our community.

Moderator

What specific recommendations has ECO2 made to the city and the county?

Trudy Rice

We have made a draft report available to the City and County and our recommendation is that they embrace the concept of jointly moving forward Industrial and Open Space projects based on the net equjity concept.

We will recommend that they adopt the ECO2 plan when it is presented in the spring of 2007.

Moderator

Does that include recommendations for any specific projects?

Trudy Rice

No, it does not. ECO2 is a tool to use to evaluate specific sites and projects but, it does not name specific sites or projects. It is intended to be a tool that can be used to evaluate projects using objective criteria.

Moderator

You’re preparing to launch a series of public meetings on this report. What kind of input are you looking for from the public?

Trudy Rice

We want the publics input on the draft plan so that we can complete our recommended final plan. The public is encouraged to ask questions so that they can further understand the plan and provide suggestions for minor revisions that would strenghten the plan.

Moderator

Thanks for joining us today, Trudy. Maybe you could end our chat by letting readers know how they can submit public comments.

Trudy Rice

We will be holding a series of public meetings. They are:

October 5 7:00 p.m. at the Douglas County Extension Office
October 9 7:00 p.m. at the VBaldwin City Library
October 12 7:00 a.m. at the Bert Nash Center
October12 7:00 p.m. at the Eudora Fire Department
October 19 7:00 p.m. at the LeCompton Community Building

Trudy Rice

You can read the plan on the Douglas County web site at www.douglas-county,com if you would like to become more familiar with it before the meeting.