Community Mapping

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Community Mapping

• Is a picture worth a thousand words?

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Session Topics

• An introduction to community maps
• Community maps - a valuable planning tool
• Using maps as a decision making tool

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Planning Responsibilities

• City Councils, borough assemblies, tribal
  councils
• Prepare community, land use, economic
  development plans
• Use plans and make decisions
• Figure out how to fund projects
• Community maps can help!

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Community Maps

• A MUST have resource
• Valuable source of information
• Excellent tool that focuses discussions
• Easy to use
• Can support/document decisions

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Community Profiles
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Community Profiles
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Alaska Department of Commerce,
Community, Economic Development
As DCRA Prepared Community
z
Profile Maps in the 1970s and
80s.
Two years ago DCED initiated a
z
program for a more
coordinated effort. Agencies
and groups combine efforts for
a map that meets many needs.
DCED maintains a library of
z
Community Profile Maps
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Community Profile Products

• New aerial photographs
• Developed area surrounding area
• AutoCad (can be updated converted to GIS )
• Very accurate (rectified)
• Land records research
• Topo
• Communities can add information
• Paper copies, CD Rom, Commerce web page

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Profile Funding

• 50 grant funds
• 50 local contribution
• Limited to groups of communities

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Putting Community Plans To Work!

• You are the experts
• Community puzzle
• land use, land ownership, future land use, hazard
  areas,
• Seeing is easier
• Good information good decisions
• Site control
• Support proposals and decisions

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Are Your Development Decisions Important?

• Community development decisions
• are long term
• can have positive or negative impacts on
• public safety
• public health/environment
• community budgets
• personal budgets
• quality of life
• land ownership
• funding
• Examples

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Public Safety
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Public Health and the Environment
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Community and Personal Budgets
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Quality of Life

• Protect Important Places
• subsistence
• recreation
• cultural

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Land Ownership

• Who are major land owners?
• cities
• village corporations
• churches
• individuals
• Many conflicts exist on private land
• native allotments
• townsite lots
• church land

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Funding

• Site control
• Flood and erosion hazards
• Support decisions
• Community positions/project negotiations

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?

• Is a picture worth a thousand words or much more?

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MUCH MORE!!!

• Good community maps are a valuable tool that can
  
• Help you understand the pieces of your community
• Help you see how the pieces fit together
• Help you prepare plans
• Help you make better decisions
• Help focus discussions about development
• Help you protect important sites
• Help you avoid site control problems
• Help you prepare grant applications

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Recommendations

• If you have current community maps use them!
• If you dont, when the opportunity comes along,
  participate in a community profiles project .
• Contact
• Keith Jost,
• Div. of Community and Regional Affairs
  269-4548