Projects

ShastaFORWARD>>

VESTRA served as the GIS consultant for ShastaFORWARD>> the Shasta County Regional Transportation Planning Agency's California Regional Blueprint Planning project. VESTRA led in the growth scenario modeling portion of ShastaFORWARD>> by using UPlan, a GIS raster modeling software program developed by University of California Davis. In this capacity, the VESTRA team:

• Designed a geodatabase
• Captured GIS data
• Modeled alternative land use scenarios
• Calculated performance measures related to land use allocation
• Designed cartographic results showing projected development, extruded grids showing development intensity and animations

The results of the projections were shown on the website and during a local PBS television series. VESTRA performed GIS data conversion of the county's general plan land use paper maps into digital format, thereby ensuring that all general plan amendments were accurately represented. VESTRA also developed attractor, discourager and exclusion layers, based upon various elements that in the model affect land use allocation. These layers included circulation elements, existing urban areas, growth regions, water and sewer service districts, hydrology and environmentally protected and sensitive lands.

The Final Report covers ShastaFORWARD>> from the first regional kick-off meeting to carrying out the community's vision. The Shasta County RTPA Board formally approved the Final Report and implementation strategy on February 23, 2010. You may download the report at the following site:

http://shastaforward.com/publication.php

Subsequent to ShastaFORWARD>>, VESTRA is working with Shasta County Regional Transportation Planning Agency on two related projects: a map-based Mobility Assessment Tool (MAT) and the Shasta Regional GIS Platform Feasibility Study. MAT is an application used to objectively identify high-priority locations for development, and the feasibility study is an analysis into the possibility of a regional GIS data warehouse where spatial analysis, decision-making support, and a framework to develop custom tools and applications is made available.

VESTRA's success in support of various California Regional Blueprint Planning projects, similar to ShastaFORWARD>>, is evident in the growing list of clients seeking VESTRA's talent. Many regional transportation planning agencies or counties in Northern California have contracted with VESTRA for their California Regional Blueprint Planning projects. They include:

• Shasta County Regional Transportation Planning Agency (three contracted projects)
• Tehama County Transportation Commission
• Amador County Transportation Commission
• Humboldt County Association of Governments
• Mendocino Council of Governments
• Lake County/City Area Planning Council
• Modoc County Transportation Commission
• Calaveras County
• Lassen County Transportation Commission (proposed July 2010)