GBCC wins grant to develop master plan

Thanks to a support grant from the National Park Service (NPS), a master plan that charts the future of the 45-mile Greens Bayou watershed is being developed.  The grant teams the NPS with the Greens Bayou Corridor Coalition (GBCC) to develop a strategic plan for the corridor.

That master plan will focus on parks, acquisition of adjacent open space, conservation of undeveloped property, landscaping, and land and water trails. The National Park Service will also help identify potential partners, contributors and funding sources. 

 “Planning for a 45-mile watershed is a massive and expensive undertaking,” said Regina Lindsey, executive director of the Greens Bayou Corridor Coalition. “This grant will provide the needed technical assistance to link existing recreational facilities, plan for a linear trail system, and help identify future opportunities. It’s difficult to know how long it would take us to accomplish these things without NPS support.”  

The Greens Bayou Corridor project won the grant because of the area’s rich natural resources, strong community support and likelihood of success, said Kathryn Nichols, a National Park Service community planner who is working with Lindsey on the master plan. The GBCC has been working to create its master plan since October 2009.  Representatives from the bayou’s four reaches formed committees that meet once a month to discuss their areas of the bayou.  Each reach committee is led by a chairperson who has taken their group through exercises that identified priorities within the reaches.

Recently, the reach chairs came together to form the grant’s steering committee.  This month, Lindsey and Nichols held the first Joint Reach Committee meeting, where community members came together to hear the steering committee’s ideas and provide suggestions and feedback. During the meeting, reach chairs talked about priorities and goals, which include conservation, landscaping, sustainability, recreation and connectivity.

“Typically, it takes a new organization time to build the resources to undertake this type of planning,” said Lindsey.  “The National Park Service grant is allowing us to move forward quickly. April’s meeting is evidence of our momentum.”   

A series of public hearings that will give people a chance to voice their ideas and opinions about the project is next on the agenda. Nichols plans to have large maps available for residents to pinpoint areas along the bayou that might have development or conservation opportunities.  

Public hearings are expected to take place in the fall.