On December 9th, 2015 the City of Suffolk, the Green Infrastructure Center and students from the University of Virginia hosted a community forum in the City Council Chambers. The meeting was well attended and the audience was composed of many interested and engaged members of the local community. Included, among others, were members from the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance, several members of our local Nansemond-Suffolk Chapter of the IWLA and several city council members.
The forum provided the opportunity for citizens to acquire a better understanding of green infrastructure principles and concepts. Included as part of the forum was a presentation by Karen Firehock, Director of the Green Infrastructure Center and three University of Virginia graduate students who have been studying assets and opportunities as part of this planning process. According to Karen Firehock, “The grants will help our city map and rank what we have and create a plan for protecting or restoring our natural resources. These natural resources create healthful communities and sustain local economies. For example, urban trees can help reduce flooding downtown and protect areas from storm surges, but they need to be mapped and managed to ensure they remain in place and are thriving. Many cities and counties have lost natural areas to development, but these areas can be restored if we learn what we have and what we need.”
Green Infrastructure includes the interconnected natural systems in a landscape, such as intact forests, woodlands, wetlands, parks and rivers, and soils. These natural landscape elements provide clean water, air quality, wildlife habitat and food. In urban areas, they also include tree canopy, streams, wetlands and other open spaces, such as parks and trails. The technical assistance grants will create digital maps of these landscape elements to assess their condition and determine if conservation or restoration are needed. The UVA students presented some of their preliminary observations of our community and gave several potential options for modifying or improving them.
After the presentations, there was an open floor question and answer period that allowed citizens to ask additional questions and to clarify aspects of this initiative, including some thoughts from one of the city council members that was present. There was also much enthusiastic discussion between attendees and presenters for some time after the meeting adjourned, as you can see below.
Attendees continued the discussions after the meeting.