Sounds like a plan
Posted on April 23, 2008
This article begins a new series that takes a look at the plans that have been developed during the past decade. The series will identify the business and community leaders who have led the planning efforts.
It will also attempt to makes sense of the network between the various groups involved. The review will obviously uncover plans that have met limited success, others that have achieved remarkable results, and a few that are still in the making.
Plans are a good thing for economic development and tourism. They give constituents a roadmap to follow and common goals to pursue. In fact, for municipalities, having a master plan is a best practice if not a requirement. One potential difficulty with these plans is that they rarely fit perfectly with neighboring municipalities, the region or the state. After all, every community has priorities for its own success that may affect the success of another. Needless to say, the more communities in a region work together the more collective success is possible. That’s the whole idea of regionalism.
But, when we talk about regionalism, what defines our region? Technically, the Roanoke Valley is part of Region 5, as established by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. This region includes Roanoke, Franklin, Botetourt, Craig and Alleghany Counties and every municipality and township in those counties. However, NewVa and the New Century Council attempted to broaden the region to include the New River Valley counties and municipalities. It seems that these broader efforts have achieved limited success. So, current plans tend to focus on the more immediate area.
If you look at the “family tree” of plans, you’ll see several varieties of groups and plans. There are municipalities with master plans for their communities, economic development groups with strategic plans, chambers of commerce with specially commissioned studies tourism commissions with business plans, and planning agencies with a hand in several different initiatives. There are also business and community leadership groups that drive the funding and strategy behind the plans. Of course, all of these groups are not represented in this single diagram.
By increasing awareness of the plans on the table, the series hopes to encourage cooperation and facilitate involvement. Ideally, by sharing a greater understanding of each other, our region can build stronger relationships with neighboring regions that have tremendous complementary assets. And, by finding common ground that benefits all of us, we can share a cohesive message with the world that attracts new residents, new businesses and new visitors to the region.
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