Project Spotlight
Funded by NOAA, the Scajaquada Creek Ecological Restoration and Resiliency Plan is creating a community-driven vision for the restoration of the 29-square-mile Scajaquada Creek Watershed, a highly impaired urban waterway in Erie County. As part of a consultant team led by Anchor QEA, Highland Planning is leading public engagement efforts, including Community Advisory Group meetings, workshops, and pop-up events, while also supporting existing conditions analysis and conceptual restoration planning. To help residents understand and engage with this largely hidden watershed, Highland Planning developed an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap that combines mapping, photography, and embedded survey tools to educate users and gather location-specific community input. View the story map here: https://tinyurl.com/SCStoryMap
Highland Planning’s engagement approach, grounded in the project’s Outreach and Engagement Strategy and focused on meeting communities where they are, has built strong early momentum and trust across the Scajaquada Creek watershed. The first round of public workshops engaged nearly 100 residents from neighborhoods along the upper, buried, and lower sections of the creek, bringing together people who live and work near different parts of the watershed. Their input surfaced clear, location-specific priorities related to access, ecological restoration, and community amenities. This representative input is shaping preliminary restoration concepts and implementation strategies, helping to focus limited resources on projects with strong community support and positioning the plan to accelerate near-term restoration and deliver tangible benefits to neighborhoods most impacted by the creek.
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