Series: Arizona tribes work to develop sustainable communities

Thursday, February 10, 2011  

"The first part of this three-part series reported on an $820,000 grant awarded to the White Mountains area for a three to five year feasibility study to develop a plan to "support more livable and sustainable communities." The grant came from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and is being administered by Economic Development of Apache County (EDAC).

Part one of this series provided an overview of the plan, who's involved, the goal, the definition of "sustainable communities" and the Livability Principles as prescribed by the Federal government.

In this part we will present the process, the first meeting of the Northeast Arizona Sustainability Consortium, and how funding for the implementation will be handled.

The goal of the study is to create a regional plan that will focus on economic development as the overriding component while improving transportation, housing, infrastructure, the environment and energy needs. The first step in the process is to create locally-based plans that reflect what individual communities feel are their greatest needs and resources using some of which is already in place. The public in each area will be involved in the planning process.

Brian Cole who is the HUD lead planner and founder of Building Communities will work with the various communities to develop their sustainability plan. The model used for this plan comes from Cole's work in the past and his new book, "Building Communities: 25 Strategies to Advance America.""

Get the Story:
Sustainable communities plan for counties and three tribes (The White Mountain Independent 2/10)