Wake County Consolidated Open Space and Greenway Plan, North Carolina
Awards > 2006 Local Government Conservationist of the Year Award from the Triangle Land Conservancy and the 2006 Second Annual County Leadership in Conservation Award from the Trust for Public Land and the National Association of Counties
Project Description >Greenways Incorporated was commissioned by Wake County to prepare three separate phases of the Wake County Open Space Plan over a timeframe that began in 1997 and concluded in 2006. For Phase One, the County asked GWI to focus on four specific watersheds: Falls Lake, Neuse River, Swift Creek and Harris Lake. The products of the Phase One plan defined a strategy for the formation of the Partners for Open Space and the Environment (POSE), a local government partnership that included all twelve municipalities. Strategies also were advanced in support of a $15 million bond referendum, which was approved overwhelming by the Wake County. These early successes lead to the Phase Two plan, which examined the entire county and included consolidated municipal open space planning efforts for all of the local governments within Wake County. GWI was subsequently commissioned by 8 of the 12 municipalities to complete local open space and greenway plans. Among the many services provided on this project, GWI prepared an Open Space GIS layer for inclusion within the Wake County GIS data library. Greenways Incorporated developed a GIS-based methodology for parcel level acquisition of open space property. Under this methodology, Wake County can query its data base for information that narrows the potential open space parcels. For the Phase Three project, GWI was hired by the County to conduct an evaluation of the open space plan and program. The scope of work included conducting interviews with municipal, regional, state and federal partners, evaluating the success and challenges of the program, and making revisions to the Open Space Plan so that it was up-to-date. All contracts were completed on time and within the defined budgets. To learn more about this project, go to the web site at:
