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The population of the Metroplex area, defined within a sixty-mile radius of Omaha, is projected to double to more than 2 million by 2050, creating unprecedented environmental and economic challenges that will shape the quality of life for more than 120 urban and rural communities. By far the most intense growth pressures will be on communities, farms and environmental systems near the I-80 corridor between Omaha and Lincoln. Projections show that as many as 230,000 commuters will travel daily into Douglas and Sarpy counties by 2050, creating unprecedented infrastructure and environmental challenges. The report emphasized the need for communities both large and small to grow in a compact fashion and encourage mixed uses and pedestrian environments in order to maintain the "Good Life." It noted that human health is directly related to the "walkability" of a community. The report also noted the problems associated with low-density urban fringe developments and acreages, which take valuable farmland out of production and over-extend city and county services. The report noted that three acreage studies conducted for Lancaster County all concluded that acreages consume more services than they pay back in taxes. Conference guest speaker Jim Walker, executive director of the Central Texas Sustainability Indicators Project, said communities that want to maintain or improve their quality of life must work in partnership with other communities toward common regional goals. W. Cecil Steward, president and founder of the Joslyn Castle Institute, said there are a number of factors, or premises, that must be considered in planning for the region’s future: 1. There are large and important ecological systems in the path of projected growth; land uses are a major concern. 2. There are serious economic consequences if rapid growth is not addressed in a cooperative, regionally focused manner. 3. The projected growth will not occur without attention to the quality of the environment and how it affects the lives of the region’s residents. 4. The region can compete with other regional metro areas (including size, strategic location, economic resources, human resources, and natural assets) such as Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, and Kansas City. 5. Water, wind, fertile soils, and a four-seasons solar climate are the region’s most valuable natural resources. 6. There currently is no shared vision of the preferred patterns of growth, or of the policies related to land uses. 7. Municipal and county governments have very different, often conflicting approaches to planning and public policies that waste resources, harm the environment and limit economic opportunity. 8. Water resources are spotted and uneven in both quality and quantity. Water will be the biggest factor in determining economic outcomes for the region. 9. The infrastructure necessary to support growth is lagging behind growth pressures. 10. Agricultural and urban/economic growth interests are in conflict. Communities have become disconnected from their food sources, and growth pressures threaten valuable farmland. 11. The region does not see itself as a unit of common economic interests; competitive tensions exist between communities that prevent effective planning and limit the region’s ability to compete with other metro areas. Steward recommended the formation of a Nebraska/Iowa Metroplex Indicators Conference that would bring together rural and urban communities, agencies and other stakeholders in a coordinated planning effort for the region. He suggested that such a conference could issue an annual Sustainability Indicators Report that would gauge the region’s progress on a variety of environmental, economic, technological, socio-cultural and policy-based factors that will shape the quality of life in the region. Steward said the Nebraska/Iowa Metroplex Indicators Conference could determine strategies for protecting the region’s most fragile or threatened environments, including the I-80/Platte Valley Corridor, the Missouri Valley/I-29 Corridor (including the Loess Hills in Iowa), the Highway 2 Corridor between Nebraska City and Lincoln, and the Todd Valley in Saunders County, which contains some of the best farmland in the country. He said such a regional coalition could also address agricultural policies, including food systems and local markets, as well as water conservation and quality policies that would bring the greatest benefit to the region and its economic interests. Steward said cities in the region are doing a good job managing their growth and revitalizing business districts and older neighborhoods, but the region is at a "tipping point" in terms of how much growth can be sustained if current trends continue. He said a regional plan that includes "smart growth" will help maintain the region’s quality of life, which includes intact towns and neighborhoods with strong community identities, and expanses of rural countryside that are becoming a rare site in other urban areas of the U.S. The Flatwater Metroplex report is based on more than three years of work by the Sixty Mile Radius Study (SRS) committee. The SRS originated from a grant funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust Fund and began as a partnership between the Trust, the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities, the cities of Omaha, Lincoln and Council Bluffs, the Lower Platte South NRD and the Papio-Missouri River NRD. 2003 Flatwater Communities Conference Focuses on Metro Growth Challenges  Development policies of the last century are not appropriate for today's sprawling cities, said W. Cecil Steward in a challenge to planners and other city officials attending the second annual Flatwater Communities Conference on Growth Sept. 11, 2003, at the Peter Kiewit Conference Center in downtown Omaha. "We need to change policies that were made for another time," said Steward, president and founder of the Joslyn Castle Institute for Sustainable Communities (JCI). "We are still operating under policies set in the Industrial Revolution, many of which are no longer relevant for today's cities and metropolitan regions." Organized by the Joslyn Castle Institute and supported by a grant from the Nebraska Environmental Trust, the conference brought together sixty planners, government officials, and business and industry representatives to discuss the effects of low-density metropolitan growth on the quality of life and economic health of more than a million people who live and work in the 157 communities within a 60-mile radius of Omaha. Based on current patterns, Metropolitan Omaha is projected to run out of developable land within 30 years, creating challenges both for the city and for the smaller communities that are affected by its rapid expansion. The conference included opening remarks from Steward, who compared communities to the struggle for freedom: "A community is never finished. You need to be ever vigilant and work for its improvement every day." He said that low-density development around Omaha will hinder the city's potential for future growth, and in its planning the city has failed to take advantage of favorable attributes including a central location and natural resources such as water, wind, fertile soils, and four-season solar climate. "Agriculture is a vital part of the urban community," Steward said. "Yet the average bite of food on your table travels 1,300 miles, even though we live in the middle of this country's greatest food-producing region." Steward's remarks were followed by an update on the future of Omaha's metropolitan growth from Steve Jensen, associate director of the Omaha Planning Department. Jensen said that every ten years Omaha growth consumes 16.3 square miles, and by 2025 there will be no land available to plat in Douglas County. He also noted that low-density development, and acreages in particular, return less revenue to the city than they receive in services.  (Download full conference summary below.) Also see Conference coverage Omaha World Herald article Omaha Growth Faces Limits Notify Me of Future Document Updates
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