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Your Monthly News & Updates
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H-GAC to Open Application for Solid Waste Grants on September 4
Each year, H-GAC receives a portion of the money collected as tipping fees at landfills across the state as pass-through funding from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to fund solid waste grant projects throughout the 13-county region.
H-GAC will award $1.1 million in solid waste program grant funds over the next two years ($550,000 per year). H-GAC will accept applications for both years only during the upcoming grant application period.
The grant application period will open Wednesday, September 4.
For more information about the grant program or to be added to an email list to receive future solid waste grant notifications, contact Erin Livingston at 832-681-2525.
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H-GAC Releases Regional Crash Data Interactive Application
H-GAC recently released
Regional Crash Data, an interactive application that displays crash data for the H-GAC 8-County Transportation Management Area. The Crash Data Dashboard allows users to create instant reports with customized filters, including year, month, day of week, hours, and various geographies. Users can also filter crash conditions, including first harmful events, crash severity, interaction-related, weather, and contributing factors. It also provides injury information by type of injuries and types of persons, including motorist, pedestrian, and cyclist.
The Crash Data Viewer provides in-depth and detailed crash location information and allows users to summarize crashes and persons by motorist, pedestrian, and cyclist with a user-defined location. It also allows users to identify crash hot spots using grid-level crash density maps for all-type crashes, fatality crashes, motorist crashes, pedestrian crashes, and cyclist crashes.
The application is available
online.
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Livable Centers 10 Year Evaluation Report, Summary Now Available
H-GAC's Livable Centers 10 Year Evaluation report and summary look at 28 studies and recommendations for local communities to reimagine auto-focused infrastructure, policies, and programs to be more multi-modal friendly.
Livable Centers studies take a hybrid approach to transportation planning and evaluate not only improvements to the transportation network, but also land use development practices which promote better access and connectivity between the roadway network and adjacent development. Examples of resulting recommendations include streetscape improvements, parking, signage and wayfinding, bicycle and pedestrian access, transit, and land use development.
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Parks and Natural Areas Awards Application Opens September 1
PNA awards honor projects in four categories: Projects Over $500,000; Projects Under $500,000; Planning Process; and Policy Tools. Winning entries serve as models for planning and project implementation for parks and natural areas in the region. The application period will be from September 1 until 5 p.m. Monday, September 30.
Winners will be notified in December. The awards ceremony and half-day parks event will be in February 2020. For more information, contact Andrea Tantillo at 832-681-2507.
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Clean Waters Initiative Field Trip - August 8
The next
Clean Waters Initiative (CWI) workshop will be a field trip from 10 a.m. to noon
Thursday, August 8, at
North Harris County Regional Water Authority, 3648 Cypress Creek Parkway, Houston.
The
Save Water Texas Coalition will present their programs, and attendees will tour the coalition's Water Quality Mobile Teaching Lab.
Participants are asked to dress in cool, comfortable, casual clothing appropriate for outdoor weather. Parking is available, but carpooling would be helpful if several people from one organization are attending. Transportation will not be provided to the field trip location.
The CWI program offers workshops that help local governments, landowners, and residents develop effective strategies to reduce pollution in area waterways.
Registration is requested. For more information, contact
Brian Sims at 713-993-2438.
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Disaster Debris Workshop - August 16
H-GAC's Disaster Debris Workshop will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, August 16, at H-GAC, Conference Room B, Second Floor. This half-day workshop will be guided by a multimedia presentation and will be available via webinar. The workshop will focus on the following topics:
- Findings from the Hurricane Debris and Impacts on Landfills Report
- Findings and recommendations regarding debris management from the Report of the Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas
- Lessons learned and trends in disaster debris management
- Recent changes in regulations, guidance, and legislation
The workshop will provide participants an opportunity to discuss concerns and share best practices and lessons learned from past debris management response and recovery efforts.
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Solid Waste Workshop Series on Food Donation - August 22
H-GAC's Solid Waste Workshop Series continues from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Thursday, August 22, at H-GAC Conference Room B, Second Floor. The workshop, cohosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will focus on food waste, specifically how to begin using food donations in communities to reduce waste and feed people in need.
H-GAC's Solid Waste Workshop Series provides information on a variety of solid waste topics. The final workshop in the 2019 series is November 21, and will focus on special waste streams.
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Parks and Natural Areas Roundtable - September 9
The Roundtable meets the second Monday of March, July, and September with field trips scheduled in May and November. The group is open to anyone who is interested in participating.
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LIVE, Work, and Play: Facilitating Housing for Livable Centers - September 20
H-GAC's
Livable Centers Program seeks to create places where people can Live, Work, and Play. LIVE, Work, and Play: Facilitating Housing for Livable Centers will focus on the "Live" component-providing a range of housing choices where residents can make many of their daily trips on foot, by bicycle or transit. The
workshop will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, September 20, at H-GAC Conference Room B, Second Floor.
Participants can gain insight on how to incorporate housing into planning strategies and learn about the tools available in the region to help promote successful housing development.
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Livable Centers, Rural Downtown Revitalization, Fall Planning Workshops Set This Fall
Mark your calendars for the Rural Downtown Revitalization Summit and the Fall Planning Workshop.
Presented by H-GAC's Bringing Back Main Street Program, the first
Rural Downtown Revitalization Summit
will focus on a variety of topics of interest to downtown revitalization and will be from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 22.
H-GAC's
Fall Planning Workshop is an annual half-day workshop for local governments featuring presentations on best planning practices for communities. This year's workshop will focus on equity and will be from 8:30 a.m. to noon
Friday, November 1.
All workshops will be at H-GAC Conference Room B, Second Floor.
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GHP HYPE Impact Awards
The Greater Houston Partnership is seeking nominations for its
HYPE Impact Awards. The awards are presented to Houston young professionals and entrepreneurs for their contributions to their communities. The mission of the Partnership's HYPE (Houston Young Professional and Entrepreneurs) program is to grow the region's future business leaders and empower young talent through professional development, connections, and access to Houston's thriving business community. The deadline to submit a nomination is
Sunday, September 1.
2020 Texas Environmental Excellence Awards
Each year, the Governor's Office and commissioners from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality honor the state's most outstanding environmental projects through the
Texas Environmental Excellence Awards. Winners from across the state exemplify how Texans set the standard for ensuring clean air, clean water, and the safe management of waste. The
application period for the 2020 awards is now open. See the
winner videos for 2019. Applications will be accepted through
Friday, September 27.
Get Involved With Trash Free Texas
Trash Free Texas works to keep trash out of area waterways by working with communities and organizations across the state to connect people to places that need routine litter cleanup activities. Local governments and organizations can get involved with this Adopt-a-Spot online interactive mapping application that identifies locations that are littered frequently and need to be adopted and matching those spots with volunteers to keep them cleaned up. For more information about submitting new spots or adopting a spot in the Houston-Galveston region, contact Becki Begley at 713-993-2410.
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Texas A&M Forest Service
Forest Therapy
Texas A&M Forest Service offers an opportunity to participate in Naturally in Nature-Forest Therapy during the summer at Jones State Forest. During this free session, participants will learn to increase physiological relaxation. The session is from 8:45 to 11 a.m. at Jones State Forest, 1328 FM1488, Conroe, on Saturday, August 3. This session is for adults only. Registration is required.
Texas Water Development Board Flood Outreach Meetings
The Texas Water Development Board is soliciting comments on the new state and regional flood planning process and the new flood financing program, both established during the 2019 legislative session. The Texas Water Development Board is hosting a series of public meetings prior to the required rulemaking process to help ensure the new programs meet the needs of Texas communities. The flood planning program will result in regional flood plans in 2023 and the first state flood plan in September 2024. Intended to make drainage and flood projects more affordable for Texas communities, the flood financing program will be funded through a $793 million transfer from the Rainy Day Fund and will become available in 2020. Meetings will be held from Tuesday, August 6, to Thursday, August 15, at various locations across the state. A schedule of meeting times and locations, is available on the Texas Water Development Board's website.
Texas Association of Regional Councils e-Learning Summer Series
Throughout the summer, the Texas Association of Regional Councils is hosting a series of webinars designed to provide information, tools, and tips to overcome barriers to productivity on a day-to-day basis. Participants will learn how to measure tasks, create plans, and realize goals. Each session focuses on a different aspect of time management. The final webinar is Prioritization at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, August 14. The first three webinars are available for viewing by registering for How We Use Our Time, Procrastination and Handling Interruptions.
State of Texas Alliance for Recycling Summit
Registration is now open for the
State of Texas Alliance for Recycling (STAR) 2019 Summit
October 7-9 in San Antonio. Approximately 200 to 300 professionals representing private sector companies, governments, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and trade associations attend the summit each year. The summit features educational sessions, equipment demonstrations, roundtable discussions, and training opportunities.
Exhibitor
applications and various
levels of sponsorships
are available.
Drug Enforcement Administration National Prescription Take Back Day
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 26. Check the DEA website in early October for area drop-off locations. The collection event provides a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications and environmental contamination. Law enforcement agencies interested in hosting a collection site should call the point of contact for this area.
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Funding Opportunities
All content, including links to websites, is for informational purposes only. Users of this content are responsible for checking its accuracy, currency, and suitability.
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Community and Environmental Planning Programs
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Mapping Applications
Looking for interactive applications or GIS data related to the H-GAC Community and Environmental Planning Department? Visit H-GAC's interactive applications web page to see the latest information, including Census, Regional Forecast, and more.
Facebook
H-GAC has a
Facebook page where information about current and upcoming events is posted. Please visit and like H-GAC's page. While there, visit other H-GAC pages on Facebook, including
Recycling,
Trash Bash,
Regional Data Lab,
Bacteria Implementation Group (BIG),
West Fork Watersheds Partnership, and
Cedar Bayou Watershed Partnership.
Find the latest information about activities around the region at H-GAC's Twitter feed
@HouGalvAreaCog. H-GAC's water resources program also offers Twitter updates on water quality issues in the region
@HGACwater.
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Banner Photo: The City of Palacios Recycling Center used Solid Waste Management grant funding to build and expand their recycling center, purchase equipment and a van, and hire a part-time employee.
Would you like us to consider featuring your municipality, program, or regional photo on the C&E Planning Update banner? Just forward
Andrea Tantillo
your picture, along with some information about the subject and the photographer, and you might see it in a future month's newsletter.
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