As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning created a Comprehensive Plan for Cedar County. Cedar County has functioned without a current comprehensive plan many years. The initial and last Comprehensive Plan 1980-2000 for Cedar County was completed in June 1980 with the […]
Academic Year Project Started: 2017-2018
Cedar County Vision Plan
As part of their capstone project, second-year graduate students from the University of Iowa’s School of Urban & Regional Planning created a Vision Plan to support Cedar County’s efforts to earn Great Places designation through the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. Concurrent with the development of the Cedar County Comprehensive Plan, students developed a Cedar […]
Selecting A Second Site for Prince George’s County Animal Shelter
Our PALS project team worked with Prince George’s County Animal Control to identify potential sites for a second animal shelter. After reading a 2016 feasibility study and meeting with Chief Rodney Taylor and other stakeholders, our team developed a hierarchy of site selection criteria. These included zoning, parcel size, transit access, and more. We then […]
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Messaging Sustainability for Environmental Health
The Montgomery County Department of Parks has asked our team of Environmental Science and Policy majors at the University of Maryland, to assist in developing creative ways to effectively message sustainability as a way to protect the health of County citizens. This paper highlights suggestions for ways to effectively do so. It focuses on the […]
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Greywater Implementation in Montgomery County
The Montgomery County Parks Department needs to adopt an alternative water source to secure the future of their water supply at their Damascus and Cabin John facilities. A greywater system is a viable option. Greywater is a sustainable, innovative water source collected from sinks and ice shavings for reuse options, conserving water, and reducing energy. […]
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Creating Connections Between Environmental and Human Health and Messaging a Call to Pro-Environmental Action
The Montgomery County Department of Parks, and other environmentally-oriented organizations, have historically had a difficult time communicating the importance of environmental issues to the general public. A major reason is that much of this communication has promoted environmental protection for the intrinsic sake of the environment, and not for human well-being. As a result, people […]
Upper Marlboro Community Center Trail Implementation Plan
The Upper Marlboro Community Center offers a wide range of services for the surrounding community, but is currently totally isolated from the multimodal network. No dedicated bike or pedestrian routes connects it to surrounding communities. Despite the lack of pedestrian infrastructure, community members still walk to and from the Community Center, along the edge of […]
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Farm to Fork: Opportunities and Constraints
Our team devised a three-stage system to implement a food distribution network to serve Anne Arundel County clients including private retailers, public institutions such as schools and hospitals, and eventually privately-owned restaurants. The goal is to maximize the supply of locally sourced produce for customers as the demand for local food continues to rise. This […]
Locust Grove Nature Center
Today Locust Grove Nature Center is housed in a small, aging retrofit facility adapted from a toboggan run that opened its doors in 1972, operating for a few short years before shuttering in 1977. The current demand for year-round programming and multi-functional event space far exceeds Locust Grove’s capacity. The location of the nature center […]