Regional Community Development News - June 7, 2011




SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — At Lake Tahoe, sometimes it takes three to tango.

And, with the passage of a Nevada bill to withdrawal the state from the Tahoe Regional Agency one step from passing, it could soon be up to California and the federal government to decide if they want to dance.

The Nevada Assembly approved Senate Bill 271 by a 28-14 vote ...

The measure by Sen. John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, threatens withdrawal from the Tahoe Regional Compact by 2015 unless California and the U.S. Congress agree to changes including 
ending the requirement that projects and other major decisions be approved by a majority of members from both states.

The bill also would require the agency's governing board to pass a regional plan update and consider economic conditions in the Tahoe Basin when amending the plan.

The legislation is before Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, who can sign or veto the bill. If he does nothing, the bill becomes law in ten days.


NORFOLK -- If you were to ask people from out of state, what is Hampton Roads, how well could they answer?

There is new effort to better define and promote this area to help make its mark on the national map.

More than 50 local businesses and organizations are coming together to push regionalism. Supporters will attend the inaugural Hampton Roads Gala on Tuesday, June 14th at Chrysler Hall.

The idea is the brainchild of Hampton Roads Live Network President Chance Wilson, who thought the region needed to better brand itself in order to attract new businesses and tourists, plus give it national recognition.

"I noticed with Hampton Roads, we have tons of great events, great festivals but we don't have that series of signature events for the purpose of celebrating the region," says Wilson.
...

To learn more about the gala click here www.hamptonroadsgala.com.



DAYTON — The concept of merging Montgomery County’s 29 government jurisdictions into one, consolidated region is raising curiosity among elected officials and community leaders who are taking part in a meeting Wednesday on regionalism.

The Dayton Daily News spoke with local leaders ...

Michael Shea, a lead strategist of the “Vote for Unity” referendum campaign that won the historic merger of Louisville and Jefferson County governments will be the keynote speaker at today’s sold-out summit at the University of Dayton’s Life Long Learning Institute.

Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Foley, who invited Shea to speak, said the summit gives the Dayton region a chance to learn the benefits and challenges of a merger by looking  
through Louisville’s rear view mirror.

Foley believes the Louisville government structure — strong mayor, 26-member metro council, with suburban communities retaining some autonomy — could work here.
...


This year marks the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Clinton County Regional Planning Commission, which was created by joint resolution of the Board of Clinton County Commissioners, City of Wilmington and each village in early 1971.
...

To commemorate the anniversary, the county commissioners presented a special resolution at the commission’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. In attendance were past members and leaders to honor 40 years of regional cooperation, planning and development in Clinton County, including Ken and Cindy Schaublin — who served as the Commission’s first staff; John Blake — who served as the chair during much of the ’90s; Bob Johnson — who has been a planning commissioner every year since 1971; and Bruce Beam — a current planning commissioner whose  father served as the commission’s first chair.
...



AUBURNDALE | Officials with Polk Vision Inc. on Monday updated Auburndale city commissioners on a new 20-year plan and invited the city's participation.

The commission heard from Greg Littleton, Polk Vision chairman and CEO of Citizens Bank & Trust in Lake Wales, and Colleen Burton, on the organization's revised strategic plan.

Polk Vision, a 20-year planning group organized in 2003 by local business leaders, issued its first report in 2004. ...

An update for 2030 released in November retained those goals with some additional strategies, such as adequate funding for education, expanding tourism and regionalism, making intelligent growth-related decisions, broadening citizen engagement in local government, encouraging diverse revenue streams to pay for government and promoting healthy families and public safety. 

The new effort is called "Polk Vision Refreshed."
...

6. 42th Annual meeting of the Mid-Continent Regional Science Association - Detroit, Michigan

Editor's Report: Here in Detroit – in the SEMCOG region - Southeast Michigan Council of Governments.  SEMCOG has been an outstanding regional council for decades. http://www.semcog.org/  

I'm attending this meeting to present: "The Sub-State District/Regional Council as a Geospatial Unit of Analytical Geography for the United States."

This is a primary goal of the Regions-Work Initiative begun in 1998.

Key points and map links follow: 




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Regional Community Development News - June 6, 2011




1. An obituary for Florida Growth Management - St. Petersburg Times


Growth management, an imperfect but noble effort to protect Florida from selfishness and greed, died Thursday (June 2, 2011). The cause of death was legislation passed by a Legislature lacking perspective and signed into law by Rick Scott, a new governor ignorant of the state's history and indifferent about its future.


Growth Management was 26 years old. The agency that oversaw it, the now-vanquished Department of Community Affairs, is survived by a handful of relatives not up to carrying on the mission: water management districts decimated by spending cuts; regional planning councils and similar agencies with little authority; and county commissions with neither the will nor the vision to stand up to developers.


Born in 1985, Growth Management was supported in its youth by governors and legislators from both political parties who looked beyond the next election and were determined to keep Florida from strangling itself. ...


Growth Management died quietly. There were no bill-signing ceremonies or front-page headlines to mark its passing. But for Floridians who care about the future of their state, the loss is devastating.


2. State budget cuts could mean problems for Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council - TCPalm.com


The Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council expects to lose 10 percent of its budget and could cut staff, salaries or benefits next year, after Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $2.5 million from Florida's regional planning councils for 2011-12.


Scaling back the councils, which deal with development planning issues that affect multiple counties, continues a trend of growth management-related cuts by Scott and the Legislature this year aimed to give local governments more planning power.


But with less regional or state oversight, local governments could start quickly approving developments that become out of control once the economy bounces back, said Charles Pattison, president of growth management advocacy group 1000 Friends of Florida.


"What we do worry about is that as Floridians recover, we're going to have lax oversight and more approvals that will just put our quality of life at risk," Pattison said.


...


3. There's more than one way to join forces - The Sydney Morning Herald


A report on council consolidation warns against fixed thinking, writes Harvey Grennan.


A NEW report calls for council amalgamations and more resource sharing, particularly in metropolitan areas.


The report, Consolidation in Local Government: A Fresh Look, was the result of a joint effort by the new Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government and the local government associations of South Australia and New Zealand taking a fresh and objective look at amalgamations, boundary changes, shared services and regional collaboration.


The centre's director, Professor Graham Sansom, said the report highlighted the need for local government to embrace further change if it was to be sustainable.


'Councils should work with their communities and regional partners to determine which option will deliver the best outcome,'' he said. ''In some cases, this may lead to amalgamations or boundary changes; in others, to more regional collaboration and shared services.
...




4. Alleged open meeting law violations at center of lawsuit | Eastern Iowa News Now


POSTVILLE — A lawsuit alleging open meetings law violations by Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission pits the city of Postville against an agency that recently moved its headquarters from Postville to Decorah.
But that move, which has understandably rankled Postville residents, has little to do with the lawsuit, according to Postville Mayor Leigh Rekow.


“It is simply to bring to their attention that they are a public, tax-supported institution, subject to open meeting laws, and meetings need to be conducted according to these rules,” Rekow said.
Upper Explorerland Executive Director Aaron Burkes said the lawsuit has everything to do with the relocation of the agency’s headquarters.


“There is no doubt” that the lawsuit is a sour grapes response to the move, said Burkes, who called the lawsuit “nonsense” and its claims “baseless.”


The lawsuit alleges more than 50 open-meeting law violations dating back more than 10 years. Most of them involve what the plaintiffs — the city of Postville and Jason Meyer, the publisher of the Postville Herald newspaper and a member of the Postville City Council — describe as inadequate notification of commission meetings.


... 


5. Regional Prosperity: How the Region’s Plan Can Impact the Region’s Bottom Line - TECHburgher :: Putting some sizzle in the Pittsburgh technology sector.


The region’s metropolitan planning organization (MPO), the Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission, is now accepting public input on the draft 2040 Transportation and Development Plan for Southwestern Pennsylvania.
...
Business leaders in America are increasingly focused on rationalizing regional patterns of development to more successfully spur economic prosperity and extend livability to more persons. The bottom line business case of smart growth is increasingly apparent.


Come be part of the conversation about how the region’s plan and you can help to:
- channel the pattern and character of growth and development to hasten regional sustainability that protects and enhances investments
- ensure economic growth occurs without the impacts and inefficiencies of unchecked sprawl
- promote sustainable communities
- level the field for development and redevelopment to revitalize our older urban centers
- focus on the new economic nexus of land use, transportation, housing, and transit ...




6. Transit: The 4 Percent Solution | Newgeography.com


A new Brookings Institution report provides an unprecedented glimpse into the lack of potential for transit to make a more meaningful contribution to mobility in the nation's metropolitan areas. The report, entitled Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America, provides estimates of the percentage of jobs that can be accessed by transit in 45, 60 or 90 minutes, one-way, by residents of the 100 largest US metropolitan areas. The report is unusual in not evaluating the performance of metropolitan transit systems, but rather, as co-author Alan Berube put it, "what they are capable of." Moreover, the Brookings access indicators go well beyond analyses that presume having a bus or rail stop nearby is enough, missing the point the availability of transit does not mean that it can take you where you need to go in a reasonable period of time.
...


7. Proposal of turning Route 422 into toll road | 6abc.com


The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission proposed taking 25 miles of Route 422 in Montgomery County, between King of Prussia and Pottstown, and making it into a toll road.


The proposal would charge drivers 11 cents per mile, or $2.75 each way.
...
Some 65,000 commuters drive on 422 between King of Prussia and Pottstown every day. Widening the road would relieve rush-hour traffic jams, but would cost millions of dollars.
...
The toll plan won't be happening any time soon; it would have to be approved by the commissioners in Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties, the state and federal transportation departments and the Pennsylvania General Assembly.


The Planning Commission has set up a website with answers to frequently asked questions: http://www.422plus.com/422Corridor/




8. Chiefs tell Alberta Government: "Fix Lower Athabasca Regional Plan"


Chief Roxanne Marcel of the Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN) and Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations (ACFN) met with Alberta Government Ministers today, and told them they need to fix the draft Lower Athabasca Regional Plan.


The Alberta Government has been under criticism over oil sands development in the Lower Athabasca region. Since 2005, both ACFN and MCFN have made numerous submissions on how to improve land use planning where it affects their traditional territory. They have consistently put forward recommendations for policies and protected areas while offering to work with Government to undertake traditional resource use planning that would help set meaningful safeguards and thresholds for ecological disturbance such as for land, air and water - and help ensure Treaty and Aboriginal rights are protected for current and future generations. ...


 "There is no legal impediment to the Government of Alberta to involving First Nations more meaningfully ...




9. A Tea Party Plan to Put ‘Big Government’ on a Diet


HOPKINS COUNTY, KY - “No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size,” said President Ronald Reagan.


And taxpayers in Kenton County in Northern Kentucky are about to find out: no bloated government agency goes down without a fight, either.


But if the Northern Kentucky Tea Party prevails, the Northern Kentucky Area Planning Commission faces significant weight loss.


Tea partiers want to gather 18,000 signatures needed to allow voters to determine whether to shrink a planning commission three times the size — and cost — of other county planning commissions in the region.


I’m betting that when voters find out that the Boone County Planning Commission staff of 15 handles 300 percent more work than the area planning staff of 42 strong – with their Cadillac benefit packages – the votes will be there.


...




10. TIF District Proposal Would Cross Municipal Lines - WBAY-TV Green Bay-Fox Cities-Northeast Wisconsin News


The Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, along with local and state officials, unveil a legislative proposal they hope will help grow communities.


It involves creating tax increment financing districts across municipal lines.


City officials hope the creation of these TIF districts will make funding regional development projects easier, particularly in the titletown district.


"Basically, it's a full blown inter governmental agreement that's going to allow us to do different things to promote the gateways to our community, especially Green Bay, De Pere and Ashwaubenon," says Ashwaubenon Village President Mike Aubinger.


For example, officials say it would allow the creation of a corridor along Ashland Avenue to attract development that would benefit the entire area.


"It's going to allow the municipalities to get together and say, this is the type of business we want on this corridor, this is the type of infrastructure and create an overall vision or plan for that corridor ..


... 




ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) committed $7 million to help restore contaminated land throughout Florida, officials said.
...

According to officials, $1 million will go to the Central Florida regional planning council to pay for several brown-field sites. Orange County is getting $400,000 and Daytona Beach will get $200,000.

WFTV learned that some of the most polluted sites may not get cleaned up for years. Officials said a little beige building was once the office of Spellman Engineering, a NASA contractor that dumped cleaning chemicals and contaminated the land with water beneath it ...



12. EPA Awards New Hampshire $1.8 Million to Restore Brownfields - NHPR.org


The Environmental Protection Agency has awarded New Hampshire $1.8 million dollars to restore contaminated sites..


Capital Regional Development Council, the city of Concord and the Town of Bristol are receiving the money to clean up sites contaminated by hazardous substances.


These sites, called Brownfields, will let municipalities clean up these properties and put them back on the tax rolls.


Capital Regional Development Council received the largest portion of the money – one million dollars- to create a revolving loan fund for businesses, nonprofits and state agencies.


Executive Director Stephen Heavener.


“The goal is to bring either underutilized or environmentally tainted properties back to resuse, that’s the ultimate, because our mission at CRDC is job creation and tax based enhancements.”
 ...


13. BusinessDay - Region falls behind in research


SOUTHERN Africa’s lack of investment in higher education is failing to meet the needs of the economy, and regional collaboration in scientific research is essential if we are to innovate and grow.


This is the view of the Southern African Regional Universities Association (Sarua).


In a report submitted to the biennial conference of the Association of African Universities in Stellenbosch on Thursday, Sarua called for a $100m five-year fund to increase academic collaboration between universities in the region. According to the report, Southern African universities were functioning far below optimal performance in human capital development and research output.


Piyushi Kotecha, a researcher and CEO of Sarua, said universities in Southern Africa have been weakened by poor political management, insufficient public investment and the haemorrhaging of talent to developed countries.
...


14. Ancient Silk Road, modern economic corridor


KUNMING, June 6 (Xinhua) -- More than six centuries after the southern Silk Road fell into disuse, China and South Asian countries hope to revive the ancient route and forge it into a robust economic corridor for trade and investment.


Chinese and South Asian traders crossed daunting mountains more than 2,000 years ago to exchange commodities such as silk, tea, ironware, jewelry and horses along the southern Silk Road from southwest China's Yunnan to Myanmar, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.


The route, though less well-known than the northern Silk Road, used to be an important link for trade and cultural exchanges between China and South Asia. It faded into history with the rise of maritime trade in the 15th century.
However, as trade and ties in the region continue to prosper, the ancient trade route has regained some of its former prominence.


"I'm a great supporter for the creation of a modern version of the southern Silk Road as it will create a 'win-win' economic situation," ...






More bookmarks:  http://www.delicious.com/I.see.regions.work


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Regional Community Development News – June 5, 2011



1. Lisa Vorderbrueggen: One Bay Area workshop takes one on the chin - Inside Bay Area


THE BAY AREA'S premier regional planning agencies suffered a largely deserved beating in Contra Costa County.


The Metropolitan Transportation Com. and Assn. of Bay Area Govts brought to Concord its traveling roadshow designed to measure public opinion as it begins the two-year process of writing a blueprint for housing, jobs and transportation, called One Bay Area or Plan Bay Area.


Vocal critics brought the May event to its knees, prompting one ABAG staffer to mutter, "This is falling apart."


Granted, the outspoken voices came from the conservative East Bay Tea Party, which views the sustainable development movement as an assault on private property rights born out of false assumptions about mankind's impact on the global climate.


Under SB375 ... California's metropolitan areas must adopt by 2013 a sustainable communities strategy that outlines how they will cut greenhouse gases.


But setting aside disparate philosophies, MTC and ABAG need to get out of their offices more often. ...


2. Is there a hidden agenda? | yuba, city, people - Appeal-Democrat


Is the long reach of the United Nations about to control land-use planning in Yuba and Sutter counties? ...


Those are all good questions. Strange, but good.


A few people in Yuba-Sutter are thinking about those and other as the sustainable communities regional planning effort makes its way across the six-county Sacramento region. A federal grant is supporting it. All cities and counties in the region are being asked to join.
...
A Yuba City resident tried to warn the Yuba City City Council about all of this last month, to no avail.


"Yuba City residents need to be informed of Agenda 21 and any potential connection with this grant. ....



Agenda 21?


Well, there really is an Agenda 21, and it's not very secret. You can Google it.


It was adopted in 1992 by the U.N.'s member nations during a conference in Rio de Janeiro.



Locally, the goal is to create the region's first "sustainable communities strategy," which state law requires.


Most of the work will involve updating the Metropolitan Transportation Plan ... strategies for economic development 


Will the U.N. succeed in ripping freedom from your grasp through this planning effort? It doesn't seem likely, but you never know


3. Governor Drops in on SGC Discussion of 2011 Agenda | California Planning & Development Report



Being governor of a state that includes Hollywood requires mastering the art of the cameo.

Governor Brown demonstrated his skill at the craft when he arrived, unstaffed, at the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) meeting blocks away from his capital office, saying that he just stopped by to see what exactly the Council had in mind regarding strategic growth--and to get a handle on what, exactly, the SGC does.

The Council members were, at that moment, considering the Health in All Policies (HiAP) priority actions. HiAP includes supporting implementation of “complete streets” policies, using SB 375 to promote active transportation, and promoting sustainable development for smart housing siting.

Council Chair and newly installed OPR Director Ken Alex--a longtime colleague of Brown's--brought the governor up to speed, describing that the goal was to consider how all state policies affect human health. The governor recast it toungue-in-cheek as one policy objective “colonizing” all the other policy areas.

In the end, the governor expressed his general support for the the HiAP concept, but not before he raised warned of potential resistance from those who might find even more strings attached to California’s growth policies--actually citing tea party opposition to overly intrusive government.
...

4.  Arnold and Stefi Harris: Dissolve regional planning panel and turn duties over to Dane County

In the three years since the Capital Area Regional Planning Commission was painstakingly negotiated by former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk with the help of many local governments and interested citizens, results never came close to expectations. ...

The Western Dane Coalition for Smart Growth and Environment has tracked CARPC’s handiwork for its brief, expensive and destructive life. We concur that CARPC should be put to sleep, ...

Dane County and other urbanizing counties need tools in addition to water quality protection plans. First, DNR’s administrative rules should be amended so that urban service area extensions would be approvable only in full concordance with the county’s comprehensive planning. Second, towns adopting village powers should be able to stop annexations of their farmlands by neighboring communities. Third, counties with more than 50,000 people should be granted power to stop municipal annexations found incompatible with their countywide comprehensive planning.

...

5. Coalition's call for regional growth - Local News - News - General - The Courier

VICTORIA’S state government has called on regional communities to accommodate further growth as the state’s population continues to rise.

The message came from acting Minister for Rural and Regional Development Peter Walsh as he addressed Friday’s Committee for Economic Development of Australia conference in Creswick.

Mr Walsh said the regions had greater capacity for growth than Melbourne.

“Regional Victoria’s population has been growing by more than 1.2 per cent each year in the past decade — from 1.3 million in 2000 to 1.47 million in 2010.
...

Cr Fletcher said the conference would lead to solutions for the challenges of growth in the region.

... member for Ballarat Catherine King hit back at claims the Gillard Government had neglected regional centres.

“Presumably the (Grattan) Institute thinks that investing $42 million in the Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre or $20 million for an upgraded dental clinic will make little difference to the city and region,” Ms King said.

6. Opinion Joyce: Water is wealth - Weekly Times Now

Canberra - as I have said before - is an example of an effective policy of regional development.

What makes the city possible is it relies on many ingredients, two of the most important being employment and water.

Canberra has an obvious source of jobs and the third-longest river in the Murray-Darling basin, the Murrumbidgee, cuts through it.

This makes it possible for Canberra to invest in an 87-gigalitre dam on the Cotter River.

Recently I visited the Gulf in northern Queensland.

This area provides immense opportunity for further development in our agricultural sector.

Georgetown sees at least 4000 gigalitres go down the Gilbert River every year.
...

There are no large storages to harness this water and use it to produce more food.

That is not the fault of the locals, many of whom want to encourage economic development and build the infrastructure to do so.
...

What Australia has lacked is the vision to develop our water resources for the benefit of the people who live here, ...

7. Sacramento Kings arena funding plans a fit for Placer County? - Auburn Journal

Sacramento’s vision of regional cooperation – and financing – for a new arena is going to be a tough sell in Placer County, some elected officials are saying.

While California’s capital city is reaching out through regionalism to help pay for a new home for the Sacramento Kings that would keep owners the Maloof family from moving the team to Anaheim or another community, the idea of Placer County taxpayers partnering in the financing is being met with resistance.
...

Joaquin McPeek, the Sacramento mayor’s press secretary, said the task force’s 60 members would be named by the beginning of the week. The region takes in 22 cities and six counties – Placer, Yolo, San Joaquin, Sutter, Yuba and El Dorado – as well as Sacramento, he said.

Also included in the task force will be labor, community and grassroots leaders, he said.
The task force is being asked to come up with a financing plan for the new entertainment and sports complex within the next 100 days, McPeek said.

8. Editorial: Economic development begins at home | The Detroit News

It's hard to find much fault with a plan to invest $3 billion in Michigan businesses when most of the money will be generated privately. The plan ... is more of the "economic gardening" Gov. Rick Snyder has promised to foster.
...

The governor's strategy is based on a belief that lower state taxes on all businesses, fiscally sound governance and a healthy business climate — besides being beneficial in and of themselves — will make Michigan attractive to CEOs and entrepreneurs looking for a likely place to expand or launch new enterprises.

The old philosophy said Michigan must continue to aggressively offer millions of dollars in tax write-offs if it wants to induce companies to locate new plants here, because that's what other states are doing.

Groups such as the Mackinac Center for Public Policy have argued that the tax inducements are unfair to in-state firms ...

And experts ... have warned that the tax incentives arms race among states is counterproductive. Fisher claims 90 percent of the tax breaks go to companies that would have made the same decision without the inducement — a waste of the state's money. If public services, such as education or infrastructure, have to be sacrificed to help pay for the tax breaks, their effectiveness is even more questionable, he argues.

...

9. Strengthening Southeast Michigan though Collaboration - Mackinac 2011 — MiVote

The 2011 Mackinac Policy Conference included a Friday, June 3 panel with a group dubbed the “Fab Five” – on the topic of regional collaboration in Southeast Michigan. A video of this panel is at MiVote along with other coverage.

10. Tourism seeks more PPP opportunities - Sri Lanka Business News

The local tourism industry seeks more Public and Private Partnership (PPP) opportunities to eliminate budgetary restrictions and inefficiencies in investments. ... time for the industry to adopt an intra regional development plan to sustain the industry while overcoming high carbon emission and increasing oil prices issues which are considered as main barriers for industry prosperity.

“In addition the government needs to offer attractive prices when it comes to leasing out land for tourism sector investments. At the moment, basic investments of local tourism projects are very high and preferred investors have to pay Rs 20 million for an acre land in some areas where there is a high demand for tourism. In addition, existing local hotel schools also need to be developed in a franchising model.

When it comes PPP in tourism, private sector has to play a pivotal role in professionalism improvement programmes, ecological sustainability and efficient management of investments.
...

11. Stock road safety program to close - State News - Agribusiness and General - Finance - Stock & Land

After a highly successful 11 years, and with a total of $11.5 million being made available through Regional Development Victoria, the Stock Overpass/Underpass Road Safety program is coming to a close.

VFF president Andrew Broad said the SOURS program had provided grants of up to $33,000 to farmers who built an overpass or underpass road crossing to separate stock from road traffic.

“Since 2000, construction of 460 underpasses has been completed providing significant improvements in road safety," he said.

"The vast majority of these grants have been made to dairy farmers as they are more frequent users of road crossings.

“The VFF has played a critical role in the administration and implementation of the program through a long and successful partnership with RDV.
...


More bookmarks:  http://www.delicious.com/I.see.regions.work

Regional Communities - "Think Local Planet, Act Regionally." 
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