Land Use & Environment Group

Land Use and Environment Group’s (LUEG’s) programs are guided by stakeholder engagement and assessments of community needs to ensure ALL community members enjoy a safe and resilient natural and built environment for generations to come. Our entire team looks forward to helping the County build a brighter, more equitable and sustainable future for all. 

Throughout all LUEG departments, our continued analysis of where and how we provide our services will help us identify ways to reach more people on more topics that impact their lives more often.  To better understand and meet the needs of our community members, and increase accountability, each LUEG department regularly assess their services, identify gaps, and work with stakeholders on approaches to address the gaps and achieve better outcomes.

Our programs are evaluated through the lens of equity, focusing on underserved communities and environmental justice.  And every LUEG department analyzes its programs to make sure unique neighborhood needs are being addressed. 

Examples of efforts that LUEG departments have taken include:

• Conducting a community needs assessments to improve services for underserved communities, from graffiti removal to improving public access to electric vehicle chargers.
• Utilizing data from the local roads safety plan and pedestrian gap analysis, to identify community needs for road maintenance and improvement to better serve our diverse customers.
• Using data driven strategies to fill gaps in parks services and address equity throughout the county. This guided not only the type of facilities and programs offered, for example...a desire for more trails, better restrooms, and more opportunities for increasing trends like pickleball...it also helped us assess the relative condition of our facilities in various communities.
• Conducting a community needs assessment in our Hazmat Program to evaluate, analyze, and identify potential unpermitted hazmat facilities within underserved communities to decrease the risk for hazardous materials releases or mismanagement of hazardous waste. Using an educational approach, over 25 unpermitted facilities have been contacted and guided towards compliance with hazardous materials regulations.

At LEUG we are dedicated to ensuring our data-driven services are delivered equitably, so all community members feel included. This approach drives our planning, outreach and implementation, including our staff recruitment process, stakeholder outreach, and translation services.