Three task teams began work at the inaugural Pipelines and Informed Planning Alliance (PIPA) meeting in January 2008. Their mission was to identify and develop recommended practices for land use planning and development adjacent to transmission pipelines.
- Protecting Communities
- Identify and achieve consensus on recommended practices for:
- Defining recommended characteristics of land use adjacent to transmission pipeline rights-of-way (ROW).
- Using enhanced building codes for structures adjacent to transmission pipeline ROW.
- Develop simple, risk-informed guidance for the practices identified from above. This guidance should be based on attributes of both the pipeline and the proposed development.
- Develop model ordinances, planning policies, regulations, or state legislation incorporating or promoting any of these recommended practices.
- Protecting Transmission Pipelines
- Identify and achieve consensus on recommended practices for:
- Incorporating transmission pipeline ROW space in new developments - residential, commercial, and industrial.
- Defining acceptable land owner uses and activities on transmission pipeline ROW.
- Ensuring land owners working in the ROW notify transmission pipeline operators prior to making changes in land use.
- Guiding the specification, acquisition, development, and maintenance of transmission pipeline ROW.
- Managing and recording land documents (easements, encroachment agreements).
- Develop guidance, model ordinances, planning policies, regulations, or state legislation incorporating or promoting any of these recommended practices.
- Review Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Best Practices and one-call system requirements for gaps in protecting transmission pipelines due to changes in land use in the ROW.
- Communications
- Determine best practices for fostering early communication among stakeholders regarding risk-informed planning to protect communities and transmission pipelines.
- Determine best practices for communicating acceptable uses and activities on transmission pipeline ROW to land owners and other stakeholders (tenants, excavators, etc.).
- Determine best practices for real estate disclosure of transmission pipeline ROW to potential purchasers of property.
- Determine barriers to effective communication and best practices for engaging stakeholders.
- Describe benefits of pipeline transportation.
- Describe recommended practices to effectively communicate risk of transmission pipelines and how risk is managed.
- Examine possible tie-ins with Common Ground Alliance (CGA) Best Practices.
- Formulate a PIPA communication plan and design the format of the final PIPA work product for all task teams.
The goals of the Protecting Communities Task Team were to:
The goals of the Protecting Transmission Pipelines Task Team were to:
The Task Team tabled an issue related to establishing building setbacks from the edge of transmission pipeline ROW. The consensus of the participating stakeholders is that a risk-informed approach to land use planning and development was more appropriate than a fixed-distance setback to be applied in all situations.
The goals of the Communications Task Team were to:
Presentations given during the Inaugural PIPA Plenary Meeting and Task Team meetings, as well as several informative reference documents are available.
Some communities have already been active in land use planning efforts. From these efforts, there are several important resources available to PIPA. More...