Piedmont Triad Sustainable Communities Project

Choices Opportunities SolutionsJobs, Housing and Transportation

First Year Progress Report

Background

• 1.6 M from HUD• 3 yr effort• PART & PTRC lead agencies• 37 Consortium Members• Why?

What is the project about?

A planning effort to integrate housing, land use, economic and workforce development, transportation, and infrastructure investments in a manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the interdependent challenges of… • economic competitiveness and revitalization,• social equity, inclusion and access to opportunity, • energy use and climate adaption, and • public health and environment impact.

Consortium Members

• Town Of Oak Ridge• North Carolina Department of Transportation• YMCA of Northwest North Carolina• Center for New North Carolinians• Davidson County Planning Department• North Carolina Department of Environment and

Natural Resources• Town of Kernersville• Rockingham County Planning Department• Housing Authority of Winston-Salem• North Carolina Department of Commerce• North Carolina Center for Global Logistics• Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization• Northwest Piedmont Rural Planning Organization• Winston-Salem State University• City of Burlington• City of Greensboro• Town of Walnut Cove• Winston-Salem Urban Area MPO

• City-County Planning Board (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County)• Forsyth Futures• Forsyth County• Southwest High Point Renewal Project• City of Winston-Salem• Greensboro Urban Area MPO• City of High Point• Greensboro Housing Coalition• Center for Design Innovation• Town of Pleasant Garden• Town of Cooleemee• Piedmont Conservation Council• City of Lexington• Village of Clemmons• Transition Greensboro• City of Asheboro• Town of Lewisville

Strengths and Challenges

Top Five Strengths• Education – grades K-12

and higher education• Farming and Viticulture• Health Care• Scenic and Recreational

Resources• Small Town Charm

Top Five Challenges• Transportation – both internal to their

communities and regionally• Participating in the “New” Economy –

post-manufacturing, high tech companies

• Abandoned Mills and Employment Centers – especially unused manufacturing plants and strip shopping centers

• Capitalizing and Supporting on Existing Business Assets – especially small businesses

• Healthy Design – planning and building communities with more transportation options, improved public spaces, and better access to fresh food.

Majors themes

• Challenges will require solutions that are regional in nature because they depend on linking transportation and land-use.

• Forum participants clearly valued the unique character of their own communities, and cited the importance of retaining small town charm.

• Forum participants cited the lack of healthy community design as a significant challenge in the Triad.

• While it was the mill-centered, self-sufficiency of the small towns and the three cities that historically defined the Triad, it is their collective connection to a larger network of services and opportunities that will characterize the region’s future.

What have we learned?• Lost more than 150K manufacturing jobs in past 20 years.• Transportation costs exceeding housing costs for many residents.• Few transportation and housing choices in many locations.• Limited access to healthy foods & open space for many residents.• Our Challenges as stated in the Civic Forums:

– Lack of transportation options– Living in the new economy– Abandoned job centers– Lack of sidewalks & bike lanes

• The new economy is creating jobs but different job skills are required. Economic connections very different from traditional ones. New job centers are spread out. Use of existing manufacturing facilities is limited.

• While desired by a growing number of people, the creation of walkable places that include housing, jobs, services and entertainment is not a priority.

Shaping our Future“We are proud of our region’s heritage – working together to create and build things of value. In the past we were linked together by the crops we grew, our land’s natural resources, and the commodities we produced with crops and resources through the manufacture of furniture, textiles and tobacco products. These efforts knitted us together as a regional community, connected our cities and towns – providing the means to raise our families and to proposer. The Piedmont Triad was the economic engine for the state, while Charlotte prospered as a financial center and Raleigh served as the seat of State government.

As a region of mill towns, large and small, we have struggled economically over the past several decades. Hundreds of plant closings and tens of thousands of job losses throughout our region have broken many of the ties that bound us together in times of prosperity.

We have now undertaken a hopeful process to re-connect and re-envision who we are and what we can become as a region. The connections will not be the same. The region is a different place and the challenges different. Please add your voice to the Piedmont Triad’s renaissance. Join in our regional conversation. Help us recapture the best of our past and present and to build a future of promise and prosperity for our children’s children.”

Raising Awareness and Public Engagement Project Website (triadsustainability.org)Views: 604 February, 872 March, 928 April

Piedmont Voice (piedmontvoice.org)136 Participants, 282 Ideas, 61 Comments

Facebook (facebook.com/triadsustainability)134 Likes

Twitter (twitter.com/triadsustainability)161 Followers

Email List554 Contacts

13 Civic Forums248 people attended across the region, 200+ ideas generated

“Grassroots” OutreachOver 500 contacts

Realtor Smart Growth Workshopwith Forsyth Co. Realtor Assc. 35 persons attended

Local Design and Development PlansAsheboro complete, more being planned

Photo contest57 photos submitted by 23 photographers

Numerous civic and community presentations reaching 600 person

Local Design & Development PlansThe Asheboro Experience

Day One – The group learned about what makes a sustainable community and explored the Strengths and Weaknesses of Asheboro’s downtown.

Day Two – The group focused on three elements of downtown: being green, accessibility and defining gaps in retail, housing and entertainment.

Two ideas stood out from the design and development work:1. Adaptive reuse of the Acme-McCrary

Plant into retail, offices and downtown housing.

2. The potential to create a linear pedestrian stroll way with Memorial Park as its focal point.

Next Six Months• Plan and begin work on 2nd Milestone

– Begin Regional Vision and Scenario Modeling effort• Plans and Studies

– Comprehensive Economic Development Study– Plugin Electric Vehicle Regional Infrastructure Study– Fair Housing Assessment– Housing Market Analysis– Development Ordinance Review

• Raising Awareness– Local Design and Development Plans– Rebranding project– New content on Piedmont Voice– Regional Summit

• Administration– Initiate Implementation Work Group

How you can help?