Strategic Planning and Implementation

Combining vision with local knowledge, these projects illustrate ways strategic planning at the regional level is critical in brownfields redevelopment, land use policy, and building collaborative groups. Project outcomes include the expansion of educational curriculums, regional agricultural marketing program and affordable housing.

During the recession of the mid- 1990s, the Sonoma County Economic Development Board in California focused on revitalizing the region’s economy by designing and implementing the Economic Vitality Project. The accomplishments of this collaborative effort to date consist of the development of a strategic plan, accumulating data and statistics for central resource use, planning the reorganization of tourism, starting a new graduate engineering program at the local university, and creating marketing programs for agriculture. The project’s success attracted foundation funding to continue their work.

The New London Development Corporation serves Connecticut’s sixth poorest city, in which more than 60 percent of its land is tax exempt. In an effort to increase the tax base, create jobs and improve the quality of life, the development corporation embarked on the Fort Trumbull Municipal Development Plan, calling for the development of a 90-acre area housing a four-star hotel/conference center, 80 units of waterfront housing, bioscience office space, and river walk. Over 5,000 jobs will be created generating $39 million in new state and local taxes annually.

Charged with the task of planning for a nine-county region, Southwest Regional Development Commission in Minnesota used its planning expertise and partnership building skills to establish the Lincoln County Sustainable Development Plan and Development Code. The development code, the first ever recorded for the county, integrates public input, local land use policy and state environmental guidelines. The plan was adopted and will guide county infrastructure investments and community development activities. The plan is posted on the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance website at www.moea.state.mn.us/resource/lincoln.cfm.

The Northwest Regional Planning Commission in Wisconsin produced the Northwest Sands Landscape Level Management Plan with a vision of treating the social, economic and natural resource elements of the landscape equally. With community consensus and Environmental Protection Agency funding, the commission encouraged public participation and used geographic information systems to review and outline specific goals. Discussions centered on the responsibilities of landowners, organizations and political jurisdictions. The plan is crucial to the ten-county region because several large industrial park sites already exist, while more than half the region’s lakes are “wild” or currently undeveloped.

The Roanoke Electric Cooperative in North Carolina has taken the lead in organizing the Roanoke Chowan Partners for Progress (RCPP) in preparation for a second attempt to obtain a US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community (EZ/EC) designation. The partnership continued after their designation as a USDA Champion Community in 1998 and includes strategic plans for revitalizing distressed areas. The volunteer collaboration successes, such as developing more affordable housing, can be viewed on the partners’ website at www.bhez.org. The RCPP will submit its EZ/EC application this September in the hope that its work as a Champion Community will be rewarded with the EZ/EC designation.

Award Winners Economic Vitality Project, Sonoma County Economic Development Board. Contact: Ben Stone, 401 College Ave., #D, Santa Rosa, CA 95401-5148; (707) 524-7170; fax (707) 524-7231; email bstone@sonoma-county.org; web www.sonoma-county.org Fort Trumbull Municipal Development Plan, New London Development Corporation. Contact: Chris Riley, 165 State St., New London, CT 06320; (860) 447-8011 ext. 18; fax (860) 447-3833; email criley@nldc.org; web www.nldc.org Lincoln County Sustainable Development Plan and Development Code, Southwest RDC. Contact: Annette Bair,

2401 Broadway Ave., Suite 1, Slayton, MN 56172; (507) 836-8547; fax (507) 836-8866; email phydev@swrdc.org; web www.swrdc.org Northwest Sands Landscape Level Management Plan, Northwest RPC. Contact: Jan J. Hacker, 1400 S. River St., Spooner, WI 54801; (715) 635-2197; fax (715) 635-7262; email nwrpc@centurytel.net; web www.mwrpc.com Roanoke Chowan Partners for Progress: Empowerment Zone Planning, Roanoke Electric Cooperative. Contact: Curtis Wynn, PO Drawer 440, Rich Square, NC 27869; (252) 539-3025; fax (252) 539-3021; email curtis.wynn@r oanoke.ncems.com; web www.bhez.org or www.roanokeelectric.com

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