Staunton--February 14, 2013

Agritourism in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia will be able to roll out a whole new range of activities in the coming years thanks to a recent $60,000 grant from the Building Collaborative Communities program. The Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission will administer the grant on behalf of the Fields of Gold region. Funds will be allocated to develop partnerships, create business support services for farmers and agritourism operators, market the Valley's rich agricultural offerings and build a sustainable organizational structure for long-term viability. 

Senator Emmett W. Hanger, Jr., 24th Senatorial District of Virginia commented on the importance of the Fields of Gold program to the Shenandoah Valley's economy: "Promoting the Shenandoah Valley as a diverse agritourism destination through the Fields of Gold initiative is a solid economic development tool that will enhance the economic viability of area agricultural enterprises. The award of the Building Collaborative Communities grant provides program planners the resources necessary to build an infrastructure that ensures the longevity and effectiveness of the initiative."

Fields of Gold is a collaborative regional economic development program serving seven counties and five cities in the Shenandoah Valley: Counties of Augusta, Bath, Highland, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah and Page and the Cities of Buena Vista, Harrisonburg, Lexington, Staunton, and Waynesboro. Fields of Gold is focused on promoting the Shenandoah Valley as an agritourism destination, creating and retaining jobs on the farm, expanding tourism jobs off the farm, and nurturing an environment for entrepreneurism.

Program participants like Julie Haushalter of White Oak Lavender Farm see the program as an invaluable support for agricultural businesses: "The Fields of Gold agritourism program allows producers like White Oak Lavender to attract more visitors to the farm and more effectively market our lavender products. Establishing the Shenandoah Valley as a destination for agricultural activities raises awareness that our region is an amazing destination for a unique vacation. The award of the Building Collaborative Communities grant allows for creating an even stronger network of farmers, regional organizations and tourism programs." 

Building Collaborative Communities is a broad-based program that brings to bear resources from a number of state entities, including the Lieutenant Governor's Office, Department of Business Assistance, Virginia Tourism Corporation, the Tobacco Commission, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Virginia Community College System and other agencies as appropriate. "In its first year, Building Collaborative Communities jump started several regional collaborative efforts across the Commonwealth," said Governor McDonnell. "The selected projects focus on and facilitate involvement from the private sector, community organizations and various other regional organizations that can make the collaboration a success."

For more information on the Fields of Gold agritourism initiative and upcoming events, visit the CSPDC website or Facebook. 

The Shenandoah Valley Regional Energy Efficiency Strategy developed and executed by the Central Shenandoah Planning District Commission (CSPDC), is being touted by Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME) Projects Coordinator, Ron Hachey, as a "shining star" among other state energy efficiency projects. Funded by a Virginia Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) and administered by the DMME, this initiative identified collective energy savings in excess of $300,000 annually for participating localities.

LED lights at Grand Caverns

Said Hachey, "When thinking about the 41 energy efficiency projects that I oversaw across the Commonwealth, I always considered the CSPDC's Project to be the shining star of them all. Well-designed, well-organized, well-communicated, well-executed and fully embraced by the 20 Central Shenandoah localities both big and small. My hat's off to the staff at the Commission for their hard work that made this project such a valley-wide success. High praise to the local leaders and staff in the 20 localities for leading by example in an emerging world where all of us will need to become more energy efficient in our daily lives."

The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commissions Transportation Demand Management Program, RIDE Solutions, has undergone two significant changes in the last year, that have seen both its reach and significance expand.  The program was started in 2001 as part of a larger effort to address mounting air quality concerns in the Roanoke Valley, primarily through carpool matching.  Over the intervening years, both the character of the program and its goals have grown to match the growing needs of the areas it serves.

In 2006, RIDE Solutions underwent its first geographic expansion, partnering with the New River Valley Planning District Commission to offer employer-focused commuter services to commuters in the greater Blacksburg area.  Virginia Tech was, and remains, a key partner in that initial expansion, which required RIDE Solutions to work with commuters traveling from as far away as Wytheville and Bluefield, West Virginia.  The program focused on the commuter traffic traveling into the metro New River Valley area, as well as those commuters traveling the I-81 corridor between Roanoke and Blacksburg.  The Smart Way Commuter bus, which connects downtown Roanoke to Virginia Tech's Corporate Research Center and the Squires Student Center on campus, became a main feature of the services RIDE Solutions promoted.

Since 2008, more requests came from localities as commuters to examine bike commuting resources in the region.  Coupled with a focus on marketing the Roanoke Valley's outdoor amenities undertaken by the Roanoke Regional Partnership and its Roanoke Outside program, RIDE Solutions began working with the City of Roanoke on its Bicycle Friendly Community designation, as well as businesses such as Carilion Clinic, Norfolk Southern and Novozymes Biologicals on ways to encourage riders, perform safety programs, and build infrastructure.  Coupled with the gas price spike of 2008 that saw the price for a gallon of gas approach $4, mode shift to bike commuting - along with transit and carpool - grew at an enormous rate.

As the demand for programs outside of its traditional role as a carpool matching service grew, RIDE Solutions had to examine the way it delivered its services as well as the growing market for active transportation.  The Commission had maintained a fairly basic website for RIDE Solutions that was no longer meeting the needs of serving a growing diversity of commuters, and the manpower involved in managing information coming through the website was getting out of control.  For example, a partnership with Virginia Tech in 2010 saw over a thousand student and faculty registrations come through the website in just a matter of days, each of which had to be processed manually into the program's carpool matching GIS system.

In 2011, the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the Region 2000 Local Government Council partnered to launch RIDE Solutions in the greater Lynchburg area, predicated in part on the program's success in encouraging bike commuting and other active transportation.  The Lynchburg MSA had recently been designated one of the country's most overweight MSAs and was looking to the work RIDE Solutions had done on bike encouragement events and employer-based bike commuter programs.  As RIDE Solutions had been created to address air quality in Roanoke, now was the same range of services being brought to bear to address public health in Lynchburg.  Further, census data showed that over 10,000 commuters a day travelled between the Roanoke and Lynchburg MSA, a larger number than traveled between the Roanoke and Blacksburg MSAs.  The opportunity to address congestion, air quality, and commuter transportation expenses between the two regions was enormous.

Under a grant from DRPT, RIDE Solutions used the growth opportunity to address the deficiencies in its website.  Combining the different goals of the regions it served with a need to make it easier for commuters to enter the RIDE Solutions program and get the services they needed quickly, RIDE Solutions staff worked with a developer to create not only a new, streamlined look for the site, but a robust, customized database backend that allowed for a myriad of account management features that's automates much of the work that had previously been accomplished manually, and gave access to commuters to better manage their own information.  In addition, the refreshed visual look of the website provided a more balanced representation of the programs RIDE Solutions offered - rather than just a carpool matching service, or even a bicycle advocacy organization - the site was developed to highlight the entire range of services the program offered and make sure that no one mode dominated the program.

The website revision was undertaken along with an overall rebranding effort initiated by the Commission, which brought its various programs more in line visually and thematically with its own image and logos, and helped make the development of the new RIDE Solutions logo and look more efficient.

RIDE Solutions publicly launched the partnership with Region 2000 at the beginning of April, and has soft-launched its website in anticipation of May's Bike Month events.

Thomas G. Shepperd, Bill Shelton and Delegate Kirkland Cox honored at VAPDC Winter Conference

VAPDC presented Thomas G Sheppard with the Gordon N. Dixon Award; Bill Shelton with the Robert W. Baker Achievement Award;  and Delegate Kirkland Cox with the Legislator of the Year Award, at the Association's annual Winter Conference in Richmond earlier this month.

Thomas Shepperd serves as the Chairman of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. He is a member of the York County Board of Supervisors where he formerly served as Chairman. He has proactively engaged the elected leadership on the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission Board and promoted the technical capabilities of PDC staff across the Commonwealth. He has spent considerable time and energy on the region's TMDL initiative including close coordination of local, state and federal officials. Shepperd is committed to promoting VAPDC's role in regional and statewide issues. The Gordon Dixon Award is intended to recognize a VAPDC commissioner or executive director who has provided leadership and make outstanding contributions to promoting the concept of regionalism in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Bill Shelton serves as the Director of the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Responsible for the management and policy oversight of DHCD, Shelton is an ex-officio member of the Virginia Housing and Development Authority's Board of Commissioners and serves on the board of Virginia Community Capital, Inc., the Commonwealth's community development bank.  Shelton was recognized for being the PDCs' number one advocate among state agencies, supporting PDC partnerships through programs offered by DHCD in housing and community development.  He has provided consistent leadership for 14 years at the helm of DHCD and understands the value to regional approaches. The Robert W. Baker Achievement Award is intended to recognize persons who have been involved directly in planning district commission activities and who have contributed significantly to promoting regional planning and development in Virginia. Past recipients include A. Linwood Holton, W. Tayloe Murphy and other notable Virginians.

Delegate Kirk Cox (66th District) has served as House Majority Leader for the Virginia House of Delegates since December 2010. In addition to his role as Majority Leader, Delegate Cox serves as the Vice Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee's Higher Education Subcommittee, and is a Budget Conferee.  Delegate Cox has championed regional efforts and has a strong record of achievement in a number of areas, including reducing unnecessary government spending, creating Virginia jobs, helping veterans, supporting families, and protecting the environment.  In 2012, Delegate Cox earned a score of 95 and an "A" rating from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Legislative Report Card for his support of business and job creation efforts completed during the legislative session. VAPDC's Legislator of the Year Award is intended to recognize a State Legislator who has provided leadership or has contributed significantly to promoting regional planning and the Planning District Commissions in Virginia.

Hampton Roads MSA : Analysis of Recent Delineation