From the President
As you know, July brings the 'new year' for VAPDC. We will come together at the end of this month to celebrate the past year and our accomplishments, as well as, look forward to 2009-2010 and the many opportunities we have to see our organization, and our PDCs grow and prosper.
The upcoming Summer Conference, Preparing for Prosperity, is upon us at the end of the month. Don't miss the VAPDC annual Business Meeting on July 31st during the conference where we will elect the incoming Board of Directors for 2009-2010. Your slate of officers and directors is as follows:
- President: Coleman Speece, Southside PDC
- First Vice President: Martin Nohe, Northern Virginia RC
- Second Vice President: James A. Baldwin, Cumberland Plateau PDC
- Secretary/ Treasurer: Robert H. Wilson, George Washington RC
- Director: Jerry Davis, Northern Neck PDC
- Director: G. Mark Gibb, Northern Virginia RC
- Director: Willie T. Greene, Sr., Mount Rogers PDC
- Director: Dennis K. Morris, Crater PDC
- Director: Chris Price, Northern Shenandoah Valley RC
- Director: James Risner, Rappahannock-Rapidan RC
In addition to the business meeting, the Program Committee has secured Frank Knott, ViTAL Economy, Inc. to open the conference. We will also have panels on housing, energy and transportation. On Saturday, we'll have Martha Marshall who will conduct a workshop on Performance Management & Strategic Planning for PDCs. Don't miss your opportunity to be a part of Preparing for Prosperity!
I will look forward to seeing many of you at the Summer Conference in Virginia Beach and if not in the coming year. Get involved and help us continue approaching issues from a regional perspective to find solutions that work for Virginia.
Coleman Speece
President, VAPDC |
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Upcoming Meetings
2009 Summer Conference
July 30-August 1
Va. Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center,
Virginia Beach, VA
2009 GIS Conference
September 21-23
Richmond, VA |
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2009 Sponsors
Gold:
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
Stearns & Wheler, LLC
Thompson & Litton
Virginia Housing Development Authority
Woolpert
Silver:
Anderson & Associates
Avatech Solutions
Draper Aden
Terra Tech Engineering
Bronze:
Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc.
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 VAPDC Connections
is published
quarterly
by
the Virginia Association of Planning District Commissions.
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Newsletter Deadline!
The deadline for the next issue of "VAPDC Connections" is September 30, 2009.
Please submit your articles to
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Don't Miss the Summer Conference!
VAPDC Summer Conference
With this year's theme of "Preparing for Prosperity," summer conference attendees can expand their knowledge and enjoy great networking at the same time, all in a beautiful coastal setting: the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel & Conference Center.
Timely topics will include the housing environment, the economy, energy, and transportation. Friday evening will conclude with a reception, an awards dinner, and a fun game show and comedy night.
Click here to learn more about the conference and to register. |
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2009 GIS Conference: A New Spirit of Collaboration
The 2009 Virginia GIS Conference will be held September 21-23, 2009 at the Sheraton Richmond West Hotel in Richmond, VA. The conference is jointly sponsored by the Virginia Association of Planning District Commissions (VAPDC), and the Virginia Association of Mapping and Land Information Systems (VAMLIS). Recognizing this new partnership, the theme of the conference for 2009 will be "Virginia GIS: A New Spirit of Collaboration." Over the last eight months, the GIS Conference Planning Committee, composed of VAMLIS and the VAPDC representatives, has been busy planning for this year's conference. The two-day conference will be preceded by more in-depth workshops on September 21. Additionally, the conference will feature a formal poster competition. The conference schedule is full with nearly 50 presentations. For more information and to register, please visit the conference Web site. Members of the Planning Committee representing the VAPDC include: Co-Chair Matt Miller, Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission; Mark Bittner, Crater Planning Planning District Commission; April Branton, Region 2000 Local Government Council; Robbie Huff, Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission; and Sara Kidd and Laura Surface, Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. |
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HR CLEAN Brings Regional Attention to Plastic Bag Litter
Eighty individuals gathered in Smithfield to discuss an invasive and migratory species: the plastic bag. HR CLEAN, one of the environmental education committees of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, organized a regional conference, "Are Plastic Bags Sacking the Environment?" to discuss the impacts of the plastic bags on the environment.
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Virginia Logistics Research Center Moving Forward
The Crater Planning District Commission, utilizing a State Research Grant, recently completed a feasibility study examining how the region's business community and higher education institutions could be linked to and benefit from Fort Lee's substantial expansion of its logistics and modeling & simulation functions. The study was led by a working group of approximately 50 community leaders from the logistics and transportation/warehousing/distribution (TWD) sectors, along with representatives from Fort Lee, Defense Supply Center Richmond, higher education, economic development agencies, and local government. The study was conducted by staff of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis & Simulation Center (VMASC) of Old Dominion University in Suffolk.
After numerous one-on-one meetings with stakeholders, as well as an on-line survey, it was concluded that the Crater Region should move forward on the establishment of the Virginia Logistics Research Center (VLRC), which will initially focus on the following logistics-related areas: Transportation/ Warehousing/Distribution, Supply Chain Management, Modeling & Simulation, Advanced Manufacturing, and Medical.
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RVARC Coordinates "Virginia's Western Highlands" Regional Tourism Project
The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission staff continues to work with the counties of Alleghany, Bath, Craig, and Highland, the city of Covington, and the town of Clifton Forge on a regional tourism project known as Virginia's Western Highlands. The project started in 2007 using funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission to conduct marketing planning, asset identification, and branding efforts. Initial grant-funded project activities were completed in the fall of 2008 and culminated in a rollout event where Congressman Rick Boucher unveiled the brand and initiative together with local elected officials from the entire project area.
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NVRC Organizes Community Energy Planning Workshop
On March 25, 2009, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission (NVRC) and the Embassy of the German Republic organized the first workshop to talk about community energy planning applications in Northern Virginia. Community energy planning (CEP) is the integration of energy efficient building and housing policies; the blend of compact land-uses and transportation; the generation and distribution of renewable energy; district heating and cooling systems around large-scale projects and development of quantitative short- and long-term energy efficiency; and greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Read more... |
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Hampton Roads Sees Traffic Decrease in 2008
Although the daily rush hour traffic jams still exist, the amount of travel on the streets of Hampton Roads actually decreased in 2008. Historically, roadway travel in Hampton Roads has increased an average of between 1% and 2% each year. This was not the case in 2008 as regional roadway travel decreased 3.3% from the previous year according to an analysis done by the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRPTO) staff.
Of the 48 analyzed locations throughout Hampton Roads where traffic volume data is collected every day of the year, only 3 locations had an increase in traffic volumes from 2007 to 2008. These locations were the Midtown Tunnel, Independence Boulevard near Town Center in Virginia Beach, and Oceana Boulevard near the entrance to Oceana Naval Air Station. Some locations, particularly those on the periphery of the region, saw traffic volume decreases of more than 6% from the previous year. Read more... |
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Scott County EDA & LENOWISCO PDC Ink Lease Agreement
The Scott County Economic Development Authority has announced its first tenant in the newly completed Crooked Road Technology Center located in the e- Corridor Technology Park. The LENOWISCO Planning District Commission has agreed to be the "anchor tenant" and will occupy 8,548 sq. ft. of space in a facility that currently measures 39,036 sq. ft. total. The building will be owned and operated by the Scott County Economic Development Authority.
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Virginia's Region 2000 Wins NADO Award
Virginia's Region 2000 Local Government Council has been chosen to receive a NADO 2009 Innovation Award for its Branding the Region 2000 Partnership.
The purpose of the Branding the Region 2000 Partnership is to build a common brand for multiple regional economic development agencies for community recognition and better coordination of services and resources.
Read more...
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Transit Vision Plan Draft for HR Region Released
In 2008, Virginia's Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) asked the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) to manage the development of a public transit vision plan for Hampton Roads. DRPT provided funding and usage of its on-call consultants. The transit plan will be the first such plan to cover all of Hampton Roads. The purpose of the plan is to lay out a robust transit network based on a backbone of higher speed transit corridors which can provide substantial mobility by means other than the automobile. (See table below.) Under the guidance of the HRTPO and the Public Transportation Plan Technical Committee (PTPTC)-an ad hoc technical working group of engineers and planners from local government and transit agency staffs-the consulting firm HNTB developed a robust plan and released its draft document on February 11, 2009. Over a thirty day period, the draft plan was reviewed by the PTPTC, the HRTPO's Transportation Technical Committee, and the general public. Read more... |
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Mt. Rogers PDC Hopes to Reap Benefits of New Artisan Center
Plans for Heartwood: Southwest Virginia's Artisan Gateway were unveiled January 10 to the Virginia Art and Architectural Review Board in Richmond. Heartwood, which will be located off Interstate 81 in Abingdon, Va. will promote the area's diverse crafts, and cultural and natural attractions and entice visitors to explore the surrounding communities. The $16 million, 28,000 square foot facility, designed by Spectrum Design in Roanoke, Va., will feature the region's hand made crafts and displays for artisan trails, cultural tourism initiatives such as the Wilderness Road, and music venues found along The Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail.
To view the Heartwood Web site and the rest of this article, click here. |
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State of Transportation in HR Update
The Hampton Roads transportation system is currently at a crossroads. Transportation funding levels are dramatically decreasing due to the downturn in the economy and a reduction in gasoline consumption. This means less money is available for an already aging and congested transportation system. Major roadway improvement projects are being deferred or eliminated, and older bridges, such as the Kings Highway Bridge and Jordan Bridge, are being closed. Meanwhile, roadway congestion remains prevalent throughout Hampton Roads, particularly at the region's infamous bridges and tunnels. To help document these regional transportation changes, the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) recently released an update to the State of Transportation in Hampton Roads report. This report is updated biennially as part of the HRTPO's Congestion Management Process, which is a program that aims to identify, develop, evaluate and implement strategies to enhance regional mobility. Read more... | |
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