Trails Documents

As I promised in my November blog, our Florence Trails Committee Mission Statement and By-Laws are posted for you. Check them out on our website.

I haven't heard from any of you about joining our group. It's an open invitation.

Our next meeting will be in February, so give me a shout.

I plan to have the Florence Trails Map and Master Bikeway Plan online for you sometime in January. I'll let you know.

Gifts from PDRTA

It looks like the holidays came early for the PDRTA and the Florence Transit System (FTS). You'll certainly enjoy your ride to your next $10 lunch in these beauties. Look what's new with this update from the Director, Janice Baroody:

PDRTA took possession of 2 brand new 26 passenger trolley buses this morning. These trolleys are for the Florence Transit System (FTS), are ADA equipped and, for the first time in our fleet, feature bike racks on the front. These represent a $375,000 investment in the Florence urbanized area, city and county. I should add that PDRTA complies with “Buy America”, which means that these buses are manufactured in the US with predominantly US parts, so we help keep Americans working.


It’ll be approx 4 weeks before you’ll see these “on the street” as we must complete final mechanical inspections, tags, training, and adding (we hope) an adaptation of the new Florence branding logos.

We expect delivery of another 5 new Florence Transit buses by April 30, 2009. These will represent a $1.1M investment in FTS. Additionally, we will spend approx. $300,000 to retrofit FTS and other buses with state-of-the-art “smart card” automated fareboxes and bus passes. We’ll also be adding WiFi to FTS buses and trolleys.

Thanks to Florence County Planning Dept, we’re making significant progress on new route maps (Scott and Debi—thank you!—we’ll be adding new cross-town routes and Saturday services soon, so we’ll be in touch). Once the routes are mapped, we’ll be putting up new bus stop signs along the routes. We have funding for bus shelters as well, and we hope to work with both the city and county on those.

With a new administration coming in January, federal transit funding opportunities are expected to increase. I hope that PDRTA will be able to partner with local governments and private sources to accomplish a number of projects.

Thank you all for your support. Have a Merry Christmas!

Janice

And in no way have we paid Janice to say those great things about the Planning Dept! FLATS and the Planning Department continue to be here to help the PDRTA as we are for all Florence County residents.

Just for more emphasis... they have bike racks!

The Long and Short of Transportation

One of my teachers in this great transportation planning effort we call FLATS is Robert Puentes. He is a Senior Fellow with the Brookings Institute. According to their website, the Brookings Institute is non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Their mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals:

• Strengthen American democracy;
• Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and
• Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.

Mr. Puentes is also the Director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative - and keeps the likes of me on track with what is happening in Washington (funding) and also other national transportation trends.

Take for instance a new study he released with research analyst Adie Tomer that shows a decrease in vehicle miles traveled from 2004... not just since our economic slowdown of 2006. And these numbers are for urban and rural communities.

So, the main thing I wanted to share with you is short term and long term strategies that Mr. Puentes is proposing to the new Federal Administration. His short term recommendations are stimulation, empowerment, and transparency. Similarly, the long term goals are leadership, encourage competition, and improving its own performance.

Since we always try to mimic what the teachers tells us (except for those few rabble rouses out there), then these same principles will find there way into FLATS planning initiatives.

FLATS is moving towards starting our long range transportation plan. We are in the process of finalizing a contract for a consultant to help us. There are new tools in the game that will be very helpful in making this plan. And we are happy enough to have such a great team including our consultants, our colleagues at the State's DOT, Federal Highways and of course, those guiding words from the Brookings Institute.

Florence Economy Hitting Brakes?

A recent article is the Wall Street Journal is a tell-tale sign of the economic times. Freight haulers cutbacks together with the U.S. Senate putting a legislative end to the GM and Diamler bailout plan, what does all this news mean for Florence County?

First, it's business as usual in Planning Services. We continue to work on increasing the quality of life through the County's comprehensive plan and long-range transportation plans. This economic hiccup, however, will alter some of the models that predict important numbers such as traffic counts and population increases. Recessions, however, don't reduce the need for better services and way of life for County residents [I'm one too!].

Furthermore, Census 2010 is coming up soon... those will be interesting numbers, and we rely on them significantly.

So, when freight haulers aren't buying any new trucks and GM and Chrysler look for other government bailout funding, you and I will hopefully continue to work in making the future of Florence even better than it is today.

We recently met with planners from the City of Florence to discuss the Future Land Use element of the comprehensive plan. Most of our initial draft was reaffirmed with some changes in the areas where the City is intending on growing. Next on our City of Florence agenda is to meet with the County Economic Development team, then to present the plan to the public [where should we have them?].

A couple of possiblities with the Future Land Use plan:

Countywide zoning - With more people looking to the Pee Dee to live and setup businesses, countywide zoning is a way to work in some predictability for its current residents. You only have to look at citizens' resistance to the factory turkey farm that won DHEC approval in Darlington County. Zoning would be very helpful is allowing all residents to know what type of uses can be located in certain areas.

Community Centered Schools - The future land use plan looks forward 20-30 years and tries to envision where infrastructure needs can be met. These needs include necessities such as sewer, water, roads, police and fire protection. In reference to your wallet - your insurance is based on the fire protection rating (ISO) of your fire department. Plus, the location of a school determines if (and how far) you drive or if you can walk to it. I am sure there is no one walking to any school that's situated like in the picture here.

Making sure adequate services are available takes a lot of planning. So, it's strange to see in a recent Morning News article that Florence School District 1 is seeking to purchase 172 acres for a school campus. We are trying to contact District 1 to determine where it is, what roads are available, if there is water and sewer, fire and police protection. Also, we want to see how it will integrate into a neighborhood that may be able to benefit from it's ballfields or continuing education evening classes?

Overall, I see Florence buffered to much of the economic havoc occurring in the world. We are not immune to it, though. Although most of our commercial and business properties seem rented out, I am not sure how much business they are doing.

All we can do is keep our chin up and plan for the future!

Community Facilities Element

Are you familiar with the infrastructure of Florence County? Neither was I until I was given the opportunity of writing the Community Facilities Element. This Element is part of the Comprehensive Plan and identifies services and facilities that are available to Florence County residents.

Among the many subjects discussed in the element are water and sewer issues. These are key components of our infrastructure and a major expense. In 2002, a new surface water plant began utilizing the Great Pee Dee River as a raw water source. This added capacity of 10 mgd to the existing wells and plants. The City of Florence also adopted a master water and sewer plan in 2006 that addressed future demands to 2025. The City's combined service now covers a 361 square mile area. That's a lot of water and sewage!

The need for new schools and how much to spend on education are always an issue of public concern. Voters recently rejected a referendum that would have allowed seven new schools to be built. The referendum would have also helped reduce the number of portable classrooms and class sizes. Alternative funding will be necessary to accommodate future growth.


Do you know where the Emergency Medical Services, emergency evacuation routes, or refuse convenience centers are located? While these are important to know, this Element also provides the location of Florence County libraries, museums, civic and arts venues, parks and recreation.

As you can see, the Community Facilities Element covers several things that affect you and your families. It also includes a list of goals and strategies to guide us in the right direction for future growth. The draft of this Element should be available on our website (www.florenceco.org), by the end of December.

Please take the time to read it and let us know your thoughts. We welcome your comments!