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Triangle GreenPrint Report Highlights Benefit of Doubling Region's Land Protection RateTJCOG & TLC presented latest findings and recommendations to Johnston & Wake officials on Sept. 26 Published September 2005 From 1970 to 2000, the population of the six-county Triangle region (Chatham, Durham. Johnston, Lee, Orange and Wake counties) more than doubled from about 500,000 to more than 1.2 million. The region’s population is expected to double again to more than 2 million by 2030. What the leaders of the region do, or don’t do, to protect the natural environment over the next 25 years will have a tremendous impact on the landscape that’s left for future generations. A new report from the Triangle GreenPrint Project finds that the region could protect a linked regional network of green space in a generation's time, but only if it doubles its current rate of land protection. To do this, the report finds that 6,300 acres per year would need to be protected in the six counties. And the report puts a price tag on this effort – $95 million per year. These findings were announced on Monday, September 26, to an audience of Johnston and Wake county elected officials and government staff. Along with the findings, Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), one of the Triangle GreenPrint Project partners, recognized the positive strides being made in Johnston and Wake counties, and made recommendations to the counties for increasing their conservation efforts. Chief among those, TLC recommended that Wake County seek approval from voters in November 2006 for a $50 million open space bond referendum. TLC also recommended that Johnston County seek voter approval for open space bond funding. Complete list of recommendations to Johnston and Wake counties. [37 kb pdf] The News & Observer covered the GreenPrint Progress Report on September 27. See the story: "Conserve faster, report urges". “Land is only going to get more expensive,” said Kevin Brice, executive director of TLC. “Buying now with low-cost bonds saves money in the long run. Having a pool of bond money available will also help the counties to take advantage of the $200 million per year of matching funds that we expect will be available when the statewide Land For Tomorrow open space bond referendum passes in November 2006.” The fiscal analysis performed in the GreenPrint report finds that it could take twice as long and cost four times as much to achieve the regional green space goals if the protection rate does not double, due to the continuing appreciation of land prices. “This report translates the Triangle GreenPrint vision into a target for action,” said Ben Hitchings, land use program manager for Triangle J Council of Governments. “By working together, we have an opportunity to create an outstanding amenity – a linked regional green space network for current and future generations in the Triangle.” The Triangle GreenPrint Project is a bold vision for the entire six-county Triangle region that provides guidance about what land to protect in order to maintain the region’s essential green infrastructure. Led by Triangle J Council of Governments, Triangle Land Conservancy and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Phase I of the GreenPrint project developed a database of protected open space and identified additional important open spaces across the six-county region. Phase II of the project culminated in adoption of a resolution by the board of commissioners in each county supporting the vision of a regional green space network and pledging to work collaboratively across jurisdictional lines to achieve it. Phase III is the Tracking and Coordination phase, translating the GreenPrint vision into an annual land protection target and performing a fiscal analysis to estimate the cost of reaching the GreenPrint goals. The full Triangle GreenPrint Progress Report and other GreenPrint reports are available online at trianglegreenprint.org.
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