CULLOWHEE, NC, May 21, 2008 – On a rainy Tuesday, citizens and leaders from throughout the seven westernmost counties of North Carolina left vacant only about 20 of the 180 seats in Western Carolina’s University Center Theater. They came to hear the wrap-up presentation of a team of design and planning specialists who have been collaborating with residents in three locations over the last week.

The goal of the collaboration: To create a “Toolbox” of strategies for planning and building responsibly in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Judging by many of the reactions Tuesday night, both the consulting team and residents of the region benefited by the experience:

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Lawrence Group principal Craig Lewis led the audience through an exploration of the first draft of the “Toolbox.” He explained, first of all, the genesis of the project in the region itself, then covered the lead-in to the weeklong charrette.

Out of that five-month citizen outreach effort, came the Top 10 Questions citizens wanted addressed during the charrette. Over the course of the week, team members worked with local citizens and officials to get a sense of hot-button topics embedded in the questions. Among them: Farmland preservation; affordable housing; and economic development.

The Tuesday-night presentation illustrated how the consultants organized their work around the questions and issues.

Download the presentation here. (PowerPoint, 17mb)

If there was one key strategy for the “Toolbox,” said Lewis, it was the necessity for planning – “to determine a community vision,” he said, and to plan in ways that increase the chances of realizing that vision. Part B in such a planning process may be to enact regulations to enable a plan. “But don’t even think about going to B before you go through A, the planning process,” said Lewis. “If you’re going to end up with regulations that don’t serve your vision or that inhibit it, you’re better off without the regulations.”

Lewis gave attendees a sample of “Toolbox” contents that would explain how to approach planning in comprehensive ways that deal simultaneously with many of the Top 10 questions, especially those having to do with environmental sensitivity. He showed step-by-step processes recommended for planning not only parcels of land, but also whole communities and transportation networks.

The second half of the presentation was devoted to applying many of the tools in the “Toolbox” to the four specific case studies. To get backgrounds on the four model projects, click on the videos below:

JACKSON COUNTY
Cashiers: Growth Strategy and Designs

MACON COUNTY
Cowee: Cultural Landscape Analysis

HAYWOOD COUNTY
Mountain Watch: Site Analysis and Design for Private Development

CHEROKEE
Wood Farm: Design and Financial Strategy for a Family Farm

Sponsors of all four of the projects were in the audience Tuesday night and seemed pleased with what the consultants’ plans demonstrated.

Community Foundation vice-president Bob Wagner may have preempted the most obvious questions from the crowd when he announced, before the presentation, that The Community Foundation had secured seed funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation for a Next Steps Fund to take projects inspired by the “Toolbox” to the next stage of implementation.