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Commission discusses Greenbelt scoring revisions; wetlands to be reinstated and GIS parcel-priority explained
Summary
Commissioners debated changes to the Greenbelt project-scoring system, agreed to reinstate wetlands as a criterion and to use a parcel-priority GIS analysis that replaces older farmland-complex mapping.
The Greenbelt Advisory Commission spent a substantive portion of its May 2025 meeting reviewing proposed revisions to the program’s project-scoring system. Commissioners discussed how to weigh natural-area criteria, recreation potential and parcel-priority measures derived from recent GIS analysis.
Rosie said the commission had previously removed wetlands from the scoring and that commissioners asked to reinstate wetlands; she said wetlands will be added back into the scoring matrix for members to rescore. "When I had removed wetlands and you all want it back, so that will go back in," she told the commission.
A key procedural change discussed was replacing the older "farmland complexes" map with a parcel-priority GIS product assembled by the county. Rosie described that parcel priority uses HRWC bio-reserve mapping plus landscape-ecology criteria to identify corridors, stepping stones, stream protection areas and expanding core habitat.
Commissioners also debated how to handle recreation potential, including whether to combine measures such as road frontage, number of vehicle trips and distance to the city limit into a single recreation-potential category. Commissioners agreed that staff should circulate a revised, blank scoring sheet with wetlands reinstated and proposed grouping changes; members will resubmit scores and staff will compile final weights.
Why it matters: the scoring system determines which parcels receive priority for acquisition and conservation funding, shaping the Greenbelt program's land-protection strategy.
Next steps: Rosie said she will send a revised scoring spreadsheet that includes wetlands and reflects any agreed groupings for recreation potential; commissioners will reassign 200 points and staff will compile the updated scores for the program's final scoring system.
