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Healthy Development ChecklistA Practical Tool for Healthy Planning in the Inland Empire RegionKey Themes Active Transportation, Social Connection & Safety, Environmental Exposures, Food Access & HealthyFood Systems, Health & Human Services, Health & Economic Opportunities, Health & Climate ChangeSUMMARYLEAD AGENCY AND PARTNERSHIPSThe Healthy Development Checklist (HDC) was devel-»oped to provide guidance on how to improve healthoutcomes through designing a built environment that is Lead: Riverside University Health System PublicHealth (RUHS-PH)»conducive to health in the Inland Empire. The Check- Principal Funder: Western Riverside Council ofGovernments (WRCOG)list includes a series of questions followed by detailed»Ancillary Funder: The California Endowment (TCE)criteria for 6 topics: Active Design, Connectivity, Public»Consultant: Raimi AssociatesSafety, Environmental Health, Community Cohesion,» Partner: San Bernardino Association of Govern-and Access to Food, Services, and Jobs. The goal of thements (SBCOG) formerly known as San Bernardinochecklist and criteria is to encourage developers, cityAssociation of Governments (SANBAG)officials, and decision makers to use this tool to helpguide the development of neighborhoods that promotephysical and mental health, encourage communityengagement, and improve quality of life for all. The HDCis a healthy design guiding tool for anyone involved inplanning, as such, it is not a mandate.» Partner: San Bernardino Department of PublicHealth (SBDPH)
DRIVERSBEYOND GRANT FUNDINGThe main reasons or drivers for the development of theThe second driver was the opportunity to apply for grantHDC derive from changes in Riverside County Planningfunding from WRCOG’s BEYOND grant. This unique fi-Policies, grant funding opportunities, and support fromnancial assistance mechanism is tied to one of WRCOG’sthe Healthy Riverside County Initiative:energy efficiency programs known as HERO. Although itis a non-competitive grant opportunity, applicants mustRIVERSIDE COUNTY PLANNING POLICIESdemonstrate alignment with components of WRCOG’sFirst, in 2011, the Riverside County Department of PublicEconomic Development & Sustainability FrameworkHealth (re-branded as Riverside University Health Sys-(ED&SF) which includes a “Health Agenda.” This section,tem-Public Health or RUHS-PH) achieved two importantexplicitly expresses the desire and need “to make West-milestones supporting the integration of health intoern Riverside County known as a healthy place for resi-planning:dents to live, work, and invest in the future.” To achieve»»The Board of Supervisors adopted the Healthythis vision, communities should focus on four areas:Riverside County Resolution; and1.Adopted a General Plan Amendment for theincorporation of a Health Element into the County’sGeneral Plan that included language that encour-aged a built environment that promotes physicalactivity, access to healthy food, and reducesdriving and air pollution. Additionally, the policysuggested the use of tools that would be effective toevaluate the impacts of development on public healthincluding survey tools such as a DevelopmentApplication Health Checklist.»RUHS-PH developed a health checklist for aproposed master plan development to evaluate itspublic health merits. This work served a template forthe initial development of the HDC. A health system offering the full range of health servicesthat are accessible and affordable to residents.2.An environment that is safe from health hazards inthe air, water, and soil.3. A “built” environment that fosters health throughtransportation, land use, housing, parks, and recreation.4. Opportunities for healthy lifestyles, such as healthyeating, public safety, and active living throughchanges to the region.These drivers provided for the opportunity todevelop a customized tool: the HDC. To accomplish this,RUHS-PH commissioned a consultant to prepare theHDC. This checklist is intended to be an efficient andeffective processing resource for planning stakeholdersfor addressing health considerations through the development review process, and planners using the HDCshould also be able to determine if new proposals complywith criteria for the BEYOND grant or not.THE HEALTHY RIVERSIDE COUNTY INITIATIVE (HRCI)Additionally, since 2011, the HRCI has been the guidinglight to “promote safe and healthy communities throughchanges to our physical environment that improve thequality of our environment through safe spaces to live,learn, work, and play.” To this end, the Riverside CountyHealth Coalition and the Riverside County Healthy CitiesNetwork have continuously supported collaborative opportunities for the development of programs and tools,like the HDC, that will help meet such a goal.HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT CHECKLISTPAGE 2
ENGAGEMENT PROCESSThe HDC was developed by Raimi Associates staff withManagement Agency – Steve Weiss»Western Riverside County of Governments – Jenniferguidance from RUHS-PH leadership. The process for de-Ward & Andrea Howard, MCUCRPveloping the final draft included conceptualizing and for-Prior to the HDC publication, presentations andmulating the content and format from a series of one-onone interviews with a wide array of planning and publichealth practitioners operating in the Inland Empire. Thisgroup of stakeholders played a pivotal role in shaping thefinal checklist, including defining language, identifyingtopic areas, and developing criteria and standards.updates on the subject have been provided to planningworking groups at WRCOG and SANBAG during 2017.Now that the HDC has been published, capacitytraining workshops have taken place during the springof 2018 in four key localities through Riverside and SanBernardino Counties. These trainings have been done inThey included representatives from thecollaboration with the American Planning Association,following organizations:California Chapter-Inland Empire Section, WRCOG,»American Planning Association, California Chapter,Inland Empire Section – John Hildebrand IIISBCOG, and others.»California Baptist University – Marshare Penny, PhD»ChangeLab Solutions – Eric CallowayHEALTH, ENVIRONMENTAL, AND/ORCLIMATE IMPACT AREA»City of Coachella – Luis LopezHealth is a critical part of Western Riverside County’s»City of Rancho Cucamonga – John Gillison, JD, MPAfuture. Secure jobs, good neighborhoods, a clean envi-»City of Jurupa Valley – Councilmember Laura Roughtonronment, and quality housing are important priorities»City of Palm Desert – Lauri Aylaian & Ryan Stendellfor every city, but their benefits are lost if we are living»City of Riverside – Al Zelinka, FAICP, CMSMin poor health. Integrated planning programs– which»City of Victorville – Michael Szarzynskirecognize the linkages between land use, transportation,»Claremont Graduate School – Kimberly Morones,housing, health, economy, and the environment—holdMPA, CHESthe potential to not only reduce congestion, improveCoachella Valley Association of Governments –mobility, and expand the region’s infrastructure for allLeGrand Velezmodes of travel, but also to provide housing choices, pre-Health Assessment and Research for Communitiesserve our natural resources, improve our health, and en-–Jenna LeComte-Hinely, PhDhance Western Riverside County’s overall quality of life.Lewis-San Antonio Healthy CommunitiesAccording to the County Health Rankings and RoadmapsInstitute-Angelica Baltazar, MSWby the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, San Bernardi-National Community Renaissance - Alexa Washburn,no and Riverside County are rated 55 and 56 for PhysicalLEED AP, MPP&AEnvironment as a factor conducive to health. What this»Partners for Better Health – Evette de Luca, MSImeans is that air pollution, severe housing problems, and»Prevention Institute – Rachel Bennett, MPH, MURPlong commutes are linked to the widespread traditional»Public Health Alliance – Carla Blackmar, MCPcar-centric/single family home development patterns»San Bernardino County Public Health Department –found in the Inland Empire. Active transportation withinCorwin Porter, Trudy Raymundo, MPH & Scott Rigsbycommunities can increase opportunities for physicalSan Bernardino County Land Use Services – Tomactivity, improve health and mental health, reduce GHGHudson, AICP, Karen Watkins, MS & Linda Mawby, MUPemissions, and promote cleaner air. The HDC is intendedSan Bernardino Council of Governments (Now Santo encourage infrastructure and patterns that equallyBernardino Transportation Commission) – Josh Leetake into consideration all modes of transportation, aRiverside County Transportation & Landproper mix of uses, and closer proximity between trips»»»»»»»origins and destinations.HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT CHECKLISTPAGE 3
Additional legislation has also been passed, suchRESEARCH AND DATAas AB 1358, the Complete Streets Act, that comple-The Checklist lays out criteria by topic and is supportedments AB 32 and SB 375 by focusing on local planningby empirical evidence and best practices, includingprocesses and ensuring the provision of local roadwaybooks, reports, and peer-reviewed journal articles. Theinfrastructure that is designed and operated to accom-publications represent diverse urban expertise, includ-modate all roadway users, including bicyclists, publicing technical knowledge, and where available, directtransit riders, and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.references to issues of equity.While compliance with this recent legislation presentsIn developing a Checklist relevant to the Inland Em-near term challenges, extraordinary opportunities existpire, the team conducted background research to iden-for long term regional sustainability. Integrated plan-tify specific health concerns across the region, includingning programs– which recognize the linkages betweenstate and county data tools (e.g., CalEnviro Screen,land use, transportation, housing, health, economy, andCalifornia Health Interview Survey, SHAPE Riversidethe environment—hold the potential to not only reduceCommunity Dashboard, San Bernardino Community Vi-congestion, improve mobility, and expand the region’stal Signs); Community Health Improvement Plans (CHIP)infrastructure for all modes of travel, but to providefor Riverside and San Bernardino Counties; and a surveyhousing choices, preserve our natural resources, im-of existing health-related planning documents (e.g.,prove health, and enhance Western Riverside County’sHealth Elements, Healthy City & County Resolutions). Byoverall quality of life.translating evidence-based research and practice, theMore recently, SB1000, the Healthy CommunitiesAct, will require the majority of jurisdictions in Riv-Checklist aims to inform development decisions that areconnected to tangible health and equity outcomes.erside and San Bernardino County to create policiesThe structure of the Checklist allows each projectthat ultimately improve health outcomes for all com-to identify level of compliance for each question, in ad-munities, but focuses on communities identified asdition to comparing performance across the followingdisadvantaged. The HDC serves a tool that is readilysix topic areas:available for cities that would want to start developingpolicies and implementation of healthy communities’strategies to comply with SB1000.FUNDING SOURCEAs part of the Western Riverside Council of Government’s (WRCOG) BEYOND grant in 2016, RUHS-PHfound an opportunity to pay for the development of theHDC. As mentioned above, BEYOND is a unique fundingmechanism for WRCOG’s member jurisdictions tied to itsenergy efficiency program HERO and WRCOG’s Economic Development & Sustainability Framework.1.3. Public Safety4. Environmental Health5. Community Cohesion6. Access to Food, Services, and JobsThe format is very similar to a California Environmental Quality Act Initial Study checklist that evaluates levelof impacts on the environment. The HDC evaluates levelsof compliance in the following way:»Ancillary funding was provided through the BuildingHealthy Communities Grant by The California Endowment.Active Design2. Connectivity“COMPLIES WITH ALL CRITERIA” (if a project meetsall criteria)»See more discussion above under the Drivers section.“COMPLIES WITH SOME CRITERIA” (if the projectmeets some, but not all of the bulleted criteria)»“DOES NOT COMPLY” (if the project does not meetany of the criteria)»HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT CHECKLIST“N/A” (if the criteria do not apply to this project)PAGE 4
The HDC can serve as a guide for the developersCHALLENGESto reflect and include public health considerationsThroughout the process of preparing the HDC, severalbefore submitting a plan to a city or county. Many ofchallenges were encountered:the checklists topics are typically reviewed as part ofcompliance with the General Plan and other ordinances, but not every jurisdiction is the same. The HDCprovides for an opportunity to level the playing field»A lack of healthy communities planning knowledge»The difficulty of making a case for the inclusion ofamongst planning practitioners and elected officials;health considerations into planning to plannersfor the sake of improving our built environment that isor appointed and elected officials who are used tomore conducive to improving health.THE HDCIS AHEALTHY DESIGNGUIDING TOOLFOR ANYONEINVOLVED INPLANNINGthe current car-centric development paradigm;»Identifying who the audience would be --developers,planning professionals, or decision makers;»Limited funding for outreaching a larger pool of»Concerns from the development sector that thestakeholders;HDC can become of an additional layer ofrequirements affecting the entitlement process;» The diverse suburban/urban/rural landscape inthe Inland Empire, but only one checklist was beingdeveloped;»Developing a concise checklist limited to 30questions (the list could have been much longer).Given the challenges that arouse several solutions werecreated:»Collaboration between agencies to maximize andalign efforts;»A Focus on evidence-based practices and issue-based outcomes to the 6 topics-- ActiveDesign, Connectivity, Public Safety, EnvironmentalHealth, Community Cohesion, and Access to Food,Services, and Jobs-- was established;»A flexible checklist was created (ex. A Not Applicable category was established for questions that donot pertain, and gave a range of compliance levelsthat would qualify as complying with each item);»Creation of a HDC User Curriculum and a series oftraining workshops; and»HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT CHECKLISTEmphasizing that the HDC is tool and not a mandate.PAGE 5
OUTCOMESThe work on the HDC checklist, which is now published,provided for a unique opportunity for RUHS-PH to startcollaboration across counties between both publichealth departments and respective council of governments. As a result of this collaborative process, the HDCwas created to promote physical and mental healththrough the built environment. It is also intended to beused during planning efforts within the entire InlandEmpire region as San Bernardino and Riverside counties share similar development patterns. Additionally,although the HDC was not developed to specificallyaddress SB1000, it can be a useful complementary design review resource for jurisdictions across the State.Recently, the American Planning Association-InlandEmpire Section, recognized the HDC with the 2018 BestPractices Award. Furthermore, the Riverside and SanBernardino Public Health Departments and two regionalplanning organizations—WRCOG and the San Bernardino Council of Governments—are leading the charge toencourage their member cities to consider using thistool. The next step for the HDC is to develop the HDC 2.0version which would take into account different land usecontexts and uses (i.e. urban, suburban, rural, conditional use permits, plot plans, etc.).FOR MORE INFORMATIONMiguel A. Vazquezmvazquez@ruhealth.orgSalomeh Wagawswagaw@ruhealth.orgRiverside University HealthSystem-Public Health(951) 358-7171ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWRITTEN BYMiguel A. VazquezHealthy Communities PlannerRiverside University Health SystemPublic HealthThe Healthy Development Checklistwas written byEDITED BYSefanit MekuriaPolicy FellowElizabeth BacaDeputy DirectorGovernor’s Office of Planning andResearchMatthew BurrisMonica GuerraGraphic design byStephanie MillerHEALTHY DEVELOPMENT CHECKLISTPAGE 6
Aug 27, 2020 · learn, work, and play.” To this end, the Riverside County Health Coalition and the Riverside County Healthy Cities Network have continuously supported collaborative op - portunities for the development of progr
