Mission | History | Accomplishments | Staff

The Countryside Program has been working since 1996 to promote sustainable rural and exurban development patterns in the Ohio Lake Erie Basin. We work with include local officials (trustees, zoning/planning commissions and boards, City/Village Councils); landowners; developers and the real estate community; designers and planners; and the general public. We partner with local community organizations; County Planning Commissions and Soil and Water Districts; conservation groups and land conservancies; development groups; State and Federal agencies to achieve a balanced approach.

• We provide education through workshops, presentations, and individual discussion sessions.
• We provide technical assistance on a wide variety of planning, zoning, development, and conservation projects and processes.
• We conduct and participate in research that can contribute to better decisionmaking in our region.
• We act as a resource and clearinghouse for those in the region who are working to achieve a balance of conservation and development.

The mission of the Countryside Program is to encourage community prosperity and the conservation of natural, agricultural, scenic and historic resources in Ohio rural and exurban communities through sustainable planning and development. This mission is accomplished through public education and technical assistance to promote practices which achieve a balance of conservation and development. These include planning, zoning, design, and construction measures to retain rural views, conserve open space, and improve environmental quality on land that is to be developed.

The Countryside Program was established in 1996 as a project of the Western Reserve Resource Conservation and Development Council. The Council is a consortium of County Commissioners, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and At-Large members in a 9-county area in Northeast Ohio. The Council has supported the program through 10 years of expanding involvement in land use and conservation issues.

In 2004, the RC&D Council began a strategic planning process, which ultimately led to the decision to find a home for Countryside that would afford greater capacity for services to our constituents, and a more sustainable financial footing. As of 2006, the Program has begun a new life as part of the new Center for Planning Research and Practice at the Levin College. We are excited about the prospects for expanding our capacity to assist communities with their education, research, and technical assistance needs.

Since its inception in 1996, the Countryside Program has conducted over 250 workshops, and over 150 technical assistance projects. The Program developed the Conservation Development Resource Manual, which won the Ohio Planning Conference Award in 1999; a model regulation for Residential Conservation Development; and an informational video.

In 2002/2003, Kirby Date led the Local Best Practices work group for the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Balanced Growth. The program also has recently published Case Studies in Family Land Conservation, the culmination of a three year project to assist 15 landowners throughout the region in early decisionmaking for their land.

Kirby Date, Program Coordinator