Ask Your Environmental Planning Question Right Here

storm drain cover reminding people of environmental hazard of putting chemicals down drains

Last Reviewed: December 26, 2021

This page consists of an environmental planning question and answer portal. We're using this term very loosely, simply to mean something about the natural resource environment that a person making city planning or community development decisions needs to know.

Before we go further, we want to say that the photo above is the No Dumping version of a stormwater inlet cover.  The image of a fish is intended to remind citizens and visitors that everything that they dump into the inlet, or that travels there by way of being swept up in water, ends up in a stream.

That's just an example of many projects underway to try to educate the public about clean water.   The public education aspects of the Clean Water Act in the U.S. have forced that issue. Other natural resource protection or enhancement efforts may not have found their translators who can put scientific and engineering concepts into simple terms. 

Good city or regional planning, and therefore good community development, depends on its caretakers having an understanding of certain natural resource principles. 

These vary widely, depending on geography, geology, climate, ecosystems, land development customs, and how the legal system handles ownership of land, if indeed there is any such concept.

So it has been such a pleasure to be in the position simply to sort the items that come into the community development question page into categories, based on actual submissions. Our editors or other site visitors will be glad to give some insights into your question if you can express yourself clearly and if we feel that among our editors we have the expertise to say something helpful.

If you have an environmental planning question, broadly defined, please take time to type it into the form below. You can be anonymous if you wish. We will look forward to answering, which creates a new web page you can point to in social media if you like. In the meantime, below the form you will see what others have asked.  You or some other liberal arts type that you know could find that you're not too clear on how some natural resource systems actually work. If that lack of clarity affects your community work, let us help.

Or it could be that your community is beginning to think about fairly complex environmental questions, such as climate change planning and participation in watershed planning. Those are sure to raise new questions and dilemmas.

Here we want to give you just the nuts and bolts of what you must know to deal with the subject matter that you raise. There are no long scientific discussions; most of our answers will be general and applicable to readers in addition to yourself.


Have A Question About an Environmental Concept or Problem?

Would you like to ask the other visitors and/or the editors a question? Here's your place to ask and then watch for answers and comments.

Other Questions and Answers

Click below to see contributions from other visitors, and answers.

High Cost of Flood Insurance Is Ruining Our Neighborhood 
Visitor Question: The cost of flood insurance has just about tripled in the last year around where I live. We did have a destructive flash flood that …

City moratorium on development 
Visitor Question: Is it legal for a city to have a moratorium on development? Our medium-sized city has discussed this a little bit in an open meeting …

Restrictions for land conservation 
Visitor Question: I'm selling a small piece of property which has a house on it. I'm also planning to deed a 2-acre piece of land to my sister. …

Pond fountain requirement 
Visitor Question: Is a pond fountain required in ponds exceeding a certain depth? Editors Respond: When dealing with a question of this sort, we …

Environmental impact of large reflective solar panels 
Visitor Question: Currently the world is trying to move away from conventional sources of energy. For that, a better option seems to be solar energy. …

Impact of drilling large wells on neighboring properties 
Our township has just rezoned a rural area to allow high-density residential for an area where existing home are on acre lots. All of our wells are …

Volume of runoff water 
When land is developed, what is the maximum area of inpermeable surface allowed for a given area of land? A developer bought an old farmhouse and property, …

Relationship of human health to the environment 
Visitor Question: Are people healthy if the environment is healthier? Editors' Reply: A healthy environment tends to lead to healthier people, although …

Are cities part of a watershed? 
What exactly is a watershed? Are cities part of it, or does the city absorb too much water. Editors' Reply: In a word, yes. A watershed is simply …

How do you shop around for green technology and energy savings? 
I am curious to hear how people who visit this site go about finding the right company to work with for embracing renewable energy sources (solar, wind, …

Click here to write your own.


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