GIS Planned New Town - More Livable community

Newhall Ranch is the latest "new town" in the County of Los Angeles. GIS has been instrumental in the planning of this community, the future home for a population of over 65,000 people. FORMA Systems incorporated the full line of Esri software to identify, quantify, model, and analyze data to assist the planners in creating the Newhall Ranch Specific Plan. The cornerstones of the plan are the special management areas of the Santa Susanna Mountains' "high country" and the Santa Clara "river corridor," comprising more than 6,000 acres of preserved open space. FORMA Systems used ARC/INFO to document existing natural resources and their future value for preservation and enhancement. GIS defined compatible land use transitions and the "natural systems" integration of the community and the open space.

Introduction

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been traditionally used in large data set applications. The increase in electronic data being created, the computing power of desktop systems, and the functionality of Esri desktop software, makes GIS affordable and practical for small community planning efforts. Through better understanding and visualization of data, we can create more liveable communities that protect and integrate open space and natural resources.

Background

Location

Newhall Ranch is located in North LA County. The site totals 12,000 ACS. and is located directly west of Magic Mountain Theme Park and the City of Santa Clarita. The western boundary of Newhall Ranch is the Los Angeles and Ventura County Boundary. The upper north portion of site is bisected by route 126 and the Santa Clara River. The land owner and developer of the property is the Newhall Land and Farming Company.

Newhall Ranch Objective

The Mission Statement of the project is:

"Create a New Town in the Santa Clarita Valley that is designed to be a self contained community and to preserve and protect the natural amenities on-site." To achieve our mission statement, we set forth three major goals.

Goals
 

• Environmental Stewardship - The first goal was to identify the major and significant environmental assets of the site, so that these resources could be presented and protected.

• Land use Compatibility - The second goal was to create a plan that accommodates a variety of supportive land uses.

 
• Entitlement - The last goal was to achieve public approval via the entitlement process.

 
 

1.  Design - Community Planning
 

•    Project Visions

To achieve these project visions required a unique community design, a design which embraced the following:
 

• A mobility plan which will provide regional access to a comprehensive system of recreational trails via rail transit and internal community access points.

• An open space plan which provides for large open space areas not as an environmental and a recreational amenity. The two major components of the open space network are the River Corridor and the High Country. All the open space totals over 6,000 ACS. with an assessed valuation over 10 million dollars. Once the major open space network on site is identified, the question remains, "How does this open space relate to regional open space systems?"

• By using 3D analyst, we were able to understand the three dimensional relationships of the existing public land and the "doubling" and extension of a 10-mile-long wildlife corridor as part of the Newhall Ranch Project.

• A Village Plan which incorporates five villages; each defined by natural features and unique in character. The villages are created to maximize pedestrian opportunities for future residents.

GIS Support

GIS played a key role behind the scenes in the planning process, beginning with the identification of vegetation habitat which ultimately defined the location and extent of development. Biologists set habitat values based on patch size, vegetation type, and location criteria. This data was converted into the GIS system, along with existing conditions and threatened species, which was digitized and incorporated into the ArcInfo library.

Issues addressed by the GIS System
 

• Land Use Issues - ArcInfo was used to identify areas less suitable for development, such as flood plains and fault zones.

• Visual Issues - The view of the Santa Clara River became an important concern to the Los Angeles County Planning Commission. View impacts and view corridors were simulated using GIS wireframe and enhanced images from Photoshop.

• Slope and Grading Issues - Other analysis included use of ArcInfo TIN and Arc Plot software to display and understand the three-dimensional aspects of the site terrain and the proposed grading plan.

• Circulation Issues - Traffic generation and management is always a concern. Data generated from GIS through TAZ (traffic area zone) analysis helped traffic engineers understand future needs and model future improvements to accommodate the additional traffic demand.

2.    Outreach Program

An Outreach Program is a key component of the development process. In the beginning of the planning process public surveys were used to identify what future residents may want in their "dream community". Later in the process, community workshops were held to present ideas and to get community input. GIS products were used to demonstrate flood plain issues and jurisdictional boundaries in public meetings. GIS was also used to analyze the many design alternatives that resulted from community input.
 

3.    Environmental Analysis

All project-level environmental analysis was performed using ArcInfo and Arc View. This included: using ArcView to analyze location and health of trees, and the creation of Excel spreadsheets to monitor environmental values using ArcView attribute values. To provide for consistent data, region based coverages were utilized. Edit tools were invaluable in tracking the consistent stream of changes and modifications.

4.    Fiscal Analysis
 
Fiscal considerations are important not only to the developer in determining his "bottom line," but also to the jurisdiction. Newhall Ranch identified the generation of surplus revenue for the County of Los Angeles as a key benefit during the period of development, as well as after build-out. During development, the project is anticipated to generate $304 million toward the General Fund and $40 million directly for the community. At build-out the development is estimated to generate an annual surplus of $21 million for the General Fund and $3 million for the community.

GIS was used to analyze both the public fiscal impact and the internal Proforma for the developer.

To maintain confidentially for the developer, values from our central GIS database were linked to an Excel spreadsheet and used to populate his financial Proforma.
 

5.    Entitlement

The last step of the our process is the entitlement process. This involved the County of Los Angeles (as lead agency), State of California and the Federal government.

There were numerous public site tours for the community and the decision makers. Using ArcInfo, we created maps and graphics for these tours. In order to communicate our project to the public and the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in public hearings, we used ArcInfo to track uses and acres, and displayed the information in a Land Use/Zoning matrix. Wall size final presentation graphics utilizing ArcInfo, helped to communicate the scope and diversity of the project.

Summary

ArcInfo and ArcView GIS are valuable tools in data management, generation of reports, and the preparation of valuable graphic information to assist in the Master Planning Process. A better understanding and visualization of data provides the opportunity to create more liveable communities that protect and integrate open space and natural resources.

Summary of GIS Tools

GIS Base

Topography

Ortho Photography

Proposed Grading Model

Jurisdictional Analysis

TIN

Regions

Environmental Resource Mapping

Interrelated Spreadsheets
 

Author Information:

H. Gene Hsieh
Principal
FORMA Systems
17500 Red Hill Ave. Ste 100
Phone: (949)-660-1900
Fax: (949)-660-9140
email: gene.hsieh@formacompanies.com