Master Plan for a Sustainable Stella, MO

Cartographic rendering of cultural land use in Stella, MO.

The town of Stella, Missouri anticipates growth from Benton County, Arkansas

, home of Wal-Mart. Although development may create local economic and social programs, Stella's citizens are concerned that it will suppress valued social and environmental communal bonds. Because development will impact local natural systems, citizens fear that compromising their values will swiftly result in insoluble problems. Although Region 7 demolished the asbestos-laden Cardwell Hospital, citizens lacked resources to revitalize the area. Representatives therefore volunteered to investigate redevelopment with Sustainable Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools - electronic (SMARTe)

Demolition of Cardwell Hospital.

EPA recognized the opportunity to determine if users value SMARTe's tools and guidance. SMARTe's users insisted that the program lacked a method of assessing sustainability and demanded faster access to policies and resources. EPA proposed a master plan for Stella that incorporates every facet of sustainability. Although we do not plan to unquestionably achieve sustainable development, theory guides our effort:

All natural systems would sustainably evolve without humanity, barring a cataclysmic event.
An environment inclusive of humanity will remain intact if the built environment retains nature's essential qualities.

Preliminary commercial plan for Stella, MO.

Any community plan should represent sundry viewpoints, which may be influenced by ambient environments. Two provisos help us conceptualize the essential attributes of natural systems that serve as criteria for planning sustainable development:

we may ensure environmental integrity if we maintain productivity, biodiversity, soils, and water near natural equilibrium (Forman 1995); and
human life requires natural atmospheric conditions.

Stella, a community of less than 200 people, offers us the opportunity to determine what development activities may reconcile community vision with society, economics, and the environment. A team of expert ecologists, hydrologists, waste managers, and sociologists will advise us on how to be sustainable in each area, and we will incorporate these recommendations, or "sustainable practices," into a master plan for the community.

Contact: Verle Hansen (EIMS#158143)

Office of Research & Development | National Risk Management Research Laboratory

Master Plan for a Sustainable Stella, MO

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