CFE 090803 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

heraldsun . com : printer- friendly story Page 1 of 2 herald SURift Report released on GreenPrint project BY ROB SHAPARD , The Herald- Sun July 24 , 2003 7002 pm CHAPEL HILL Officials from Orange , Chatham, Durham and three neighboring counties say they're interested in talking more with each other about regional efforts to conserve land and other natural resources around the Triangle . The boards of commissioners from the counties , which also include Wake , Johnston and Lee , have passed resolutions expressing their willingness to work together on steps like identifying possible areas for protection and trading notes on land-protection efforts going on now within their borders . The boards essentially passed votes of confidence in the ongoing bid to create a " Triangle GreenPrint, " a joint project of the Triangle J Council of Governments , the Triangle Land Conservancy and the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources . The three partners formally released their latest report on Thursday, describing their efforts since last spring to build support for the GreenPrint project . The report, which also includes results from a survey that drew 130 responses , is available on the Internet at wwwArianglegreenprint . org . The key aim of the project would be to " identify the Triangle' s essential green infrastructure and show how it fits together on a regional scale , " planners say . To give of and others a good " big picture " view of the region, the GreenPrint will include details on natural resources throughout the six counties , and an up -to - date listing of the preservation efforts that the counties already are pursuing, said Ben Hitchings , project manager with the Council of Governments . It would give the various governments a way to track what their neighbors are doing , and to look for areas where regional projects might make sense , Hitchings said . The idea in part is that county boundaries often don' t apply to natural resources such as rivers , so protecting those resources requires cooperation . Over the last year or so , the three partners have done presentations in the six counties and asked officials to pass the resolutions of support . " The thing that' s particularly interesting from our standpoint is a growing recognition of the need for regional cooperation, " Hitchings said Thursday . " It' s not that often that you see six counties get together and endorse a common vision . " All the boards passed the resolutions unanimously except for the Johnston panel, which voted 4 - 3 in favor of the resolution this spring . The resolutions don't call for any commitment of money from the counties . The commitments are in httn : //www . heraldsun . com/tools/printfriendly . cfiin? StoryID =374924 7/25 /2003