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Activities
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Activities
Jeff Loux divides his time between managing the Land Use and Natural Resources Program for UC Davis Extension, serving as an Adjunct Faculty in Landscape Architecture and serving as Mediator for the Sacramento Regional Water Forum under the auspices of the Center for Collaborative Policy. Jeff has over 20 years of experience and expertise in the public, private and university sectors in Urban and Environmental Planning/ Design, Water Resources Policy and Community Participation.
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Jeff recently completed the
book Water and Land Use: Planning Wisely for
California’s Future, published
in 2004 by Solano Press Books.
This is the first book of its kind addressing the
inter-relationships between land use activities and water
resources planning and management. He is working on a second
book for Solano Press Books, entitled: The Open
Space and Land Conservation Handbook, due
out in 2006. He
has published numerous articles, book reviews, book
chapters, and research papers; these are listed on the web
site under publications and creative work.
He recently contributed a chapter for the State Of California
Office of Planning and Research General Plan Guidelines
addressing Water Elements in community plans, as well as a
chapter on Water Supply for Vicky Elmer’s forth coming
book on Infrastructure. |
In addition, Jeff has worked as a practicing environmental and urban planner and designer in the private sector (for the firms of MIG, Inc. and The Planning Collaborative) and for the public sector, as the Planning Director of the City of Davis. He has managed over 200 planning and resource management projects and authored over 100 community plans. Among the most well known of these projects are: The Merced Wild and Scenic River Comprehensive Plan for the National Park Service (in Yosemite National Park), City of Ventura Vision, City of Davis General Plan, Gateway Specific Plan, Napa River Watershed Management Plan, Ridgelands Regional Park Plan, and Park and Recreation Master Plans for Visalia, Livermore, Hayward, and St. Paul, Minnesota. (A list of these plans and projects is provided under Publications and Creative Work).
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Jeff has received over 20 peer-reviewed awards and honors for his professional planning and resource management work, as well for teaching and academic work. Among his recent awards are the Award of Excellence for Education and Outreach from the California Chapter of the American Planning Association for a series of natural resources courses for the Bureau of Land Management across the western U.S.; and an Honor Award for the Land Use and Natural Resources Program from the California Chapter of the APA. He was past Vice President for Policy and Legislation for the California Chapter of the APA, and helped author several State statutes including AB 857 addressing “Smart Growth” principles in California. This past year, Jeff was elected to the prestigious California Planner’s Roundtable, a group of 30 distinguished professionals from around the State who address pressing planning and community development issues. Jeff is a past board member of Urban Ecology also.
Jeff is a frequent speaker or moderator at statewide, national or international conferences and workshops. In spring of 2005, he was invited to participate in the 6th Annual Global Conference on Reinventing Government in Seoul, South Korea representing the Water Forum. Jeff is the Mediator for the Water Forum, a 40-member stakeholder collaborative that has developed and is now implementing a plan to balance water supply needs form the American River water shed (ground water and river sources) with protection and enhancement of the aquatic resources and fisheries of the river through the year 2030. The Water Forum has won numerous awards and received national and international acclaim for its unique use of interest-based negotiation to resolve long-standing conflicts over water use in the American River basin. One such award was the 2003 Governor’s Economic and Environmental Award.
Dr. Loux has been a speaker or panelist on over 100 conferences, forums, and workshops on water policy, water and land use, community design, regional planning, parks and recreation planning, open space protection, alternative transportation and sustainability (the full list is provide in the web site).
Dr. Loux’s research and creative work is focused in three primary areas, each of which relates broad-scale natural resources and land use policy with on-the-ground improvements in the environment.
(1) Water resources policy and management, particularly in California and especially on the interactions between land use change and water management.
(2) Understanding how to envision, plan for and design sustainable communities that reduce impact to environmental resources and take account of social and community needs.
(3) Understanding how to collaborate with and involve all of the various interests and stakeholders who care about natural resource and land use policy (especially water) to reach lasting and creative consensus agreements.
Water Resources
Jeff’s primary research focus has been in the arena
of water policy in California and the interaction between land use
changes and water resources. His recent book, courses and speaking
engagements explore the subjects of water supply and demand planning;
watershed management; water policy futures for California, use of
innovative storm water management techniques to conserve water and
improve water quality and alternate approaches to securing additional
water supplies that are sustainable and result in minimal
environmental effects. He is also developing an interest in
comparative studies of other water-scarce regions in the world (such
as Australia) and how they have coped with their water
problems.
Sustainable Communities
Jeff's work in
sustainable communities planning and design has taken various forms
including books and articles, developing courses for undergraduates,
graduates and adult learners, giving presentations and lectures and
developing State legislation to advance the ideas of sustainable
communities. He is currently working on a book with a series of
co-authors entitled: The Open Space and Land Conservation Handbook to
be published by Solano Press Books. As a County and City Planning
Director (the latter for the City of Davis) for eight years he was
responsible for long-term and day-to-day planning and community
design analysis and decisions in the Santa Cruz areand in Davis. As
Davis' Planning Director, Jeff managed several major specific plans,
a general plan update and authored a number of ordinances including
the first comprehensive farmland conservation ordinance in the State.
This ordinance has led to over 4,000 acres of farmland protected
permanently in conservation easements surrounding the community. Jeff
has also served as a private planning and design consultant with
projects throughout California in large and small communities ranging
in scope from 20,000-acre open space protection plans to infill
studies for small towns.
Community Participation and Dispute Resolution
As part of his work, Dr. Loux has pioneered innovative
approaches to involving all stakeholders in urban planning,
environmental design and resource management. A lasting or
sustainable solution is one supported by and in the best of worlds
envisioned and developed by the very people the solution is meant to
affect. Jeff currently serves as Mediator for the Water Forum,
working under the auspices of the Center for Collaborative Policy, a
joint program of California State University, Sacramento and McGeorge
School of Law at the University of the Pacific. The Center is engaged
incutting edge research, study and practice of methods and approaches
to reaching agreements on complex policy matters, often in the realm
of natural resource management and land use policy. Jeff is also
involved in facilitating various work groups and collaboratives for
the State and Regional Water Boards including their grants office,
Non-Point Source Program, Watershed Management Initiative, Surface
Water Monitoring Program and related groups. Jeff has developed and
taught over 50 courses in this field through UC Davis Extension, for
all types of planning professionals, water managers, transportation
professionals, attorneys and others.
UC Davis Extension Land Use and Natural Resources Program (LUNR)
As a "part-time" adjunct faculty, most of Jeff’s time and work efforts are spent managing the LUNR program for the University. LUNR is a continuing education program designed to meet the needs of all types professionals throughout northern and central California in the fields of land use law and practice, environmental law, ecological restoration, habitat planning and management, hydrology and water resources, housing and community development, GIS as applied to natural resources, public finance, and transportation management. We have grown the program into one of the largest of its kind in the country, with over 120 short courses, classes and conferences per year and over 4,000 enrollments annually and a budget of $2 million per year. Our audience consists of attorneys, planners, resource managers, scientists, academics, agency administrators, environmental consultants, housing/redevelopment analysts and planners, water resource professionals and many others. My role is to identify the needs of the professions, create and develop educational courses and events to meet those needs, find experts to teach the courses and manage the operation of the program. I also teach a number of our classes. The program is fully self-supporting. Examples of the type of classes we have recently created for the program include: Protecting California's Rivers, Water Quality Protection and Regulation, Urban Design as Public Policy, Water Law, Groundwater Hydrology and Law, Historic Resource Preservation, Bicycle System Planning and Design and many others.
The following is a sampling of courses either created, managed or developed by Jeff Loux and are administered as part of the Land Use and Natural Resources Program. These courses are taught by various instructors.
- Urban Site Design
- Interest-Based Negotiation
- Preserving California Rivers Conference
- Civil Engineering for Land Use and Site Planning
- Historic Resources Preservation
- Land Conservation: Trends, Techniques and Opportunities
- Growth Management: Practical and Legal Strategies
- Planning for Higher Education in California
- Water Quality Regulation and Permitting
- Community Participation and Dispute Resolution
- Habitat Restoration: Intensive Two-Day Workshop
- Public-Private Partnerships: Keys to Successful Land Development
- Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning and Design
- Law, Policy, Legislation and Funding in Transportation Planning and Management
- Effective Public Participation for CEQA and NEPA Work
- Finding the Right Blend: Land Use Planning, Environmental Regulation and the Wine Industry
- Infill Development
- Groundwater Law, Hydrology and Management
- Practical Guide to Updating the General Plan
- Affordable Housing: Law, Policy and Practice
- Public Real Estate Transactions
- GIS for Watershed Analysis
- Housing Elements and Beyond
- Road Ecology I and II
- Water Resources Law and Policy
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9/8/09
