Round and Round They Go

Looks like a regular road with a large sidewalk.

I know we talk a lot about the importance of long range planning and how our team is looking forward anticipating more and more people moving, building, commuting, playing, and shopping in Florence County. One of our major exercises focuses on transportation planning. Throughout the nation (and the world) transportation planners are working to balance the need to move traffic with the desire to maintain local quality of life. Some may say these two things are the same, but others like things to stay the way they are.

There are challenges out there. I am sure most of you have seen the video of an 'intersection in India' where rickshaws, freight vehicles, motor bikes, cars and bicyclists successfully cross a busy intersect (sans signal). Some of our colleagues to the west are looking at a measured response to balance downtown redevelopment and maintaining the ablilty to move large agricultural machinery by way of downtown roads.

Locally, one of the intersections considered the epitome of 'needing work' is Five Points. Palmetto, Cashua, Hoffmeyer and Cherokee come together here making most likely the longest light timing cycle in the county (the shortest period of time I waited was less than 30 seconds but that was around 1:00am!). A recent update to the urban long range transportation plan (LRTP) considering upgrading Five Points to the Five Points Roundabout. Now, of course anything 'round' has no points; but my point is that this intersection has six, so everyone is entitled to a unique perspective. So, how about a little preview of how a roundabout looks and what it can do.

...but these strange markings tell a different tale.

These photos and the following video were taken from the Coastal Carolina University campus while on my way to a conference. It's really amazing how well the roundabout works. I entered the campus from 544 and there was a very long line to exit at that signal. This intersection, however, was flowing very well (even with bus traffic). Watch one of the buses take a left by going right (Lightning McQueen?) around the circle.

Notice there is a dominant roadway, but once a vehicle is in the circle, they have the right of way. Also notice how far back the pedestrian crossing is from the intersection - the markings make it obvious to drivers that pedestrians come first in this setup.

Now that's not so bad, so let's get your feedback. Do you think a roundabout will work for Florence? Have you experienced this roundabout? Thank you!

LaHood in Florence

Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood with Congressman John Spratt.

It's not often and never anticipated to see the U.S. Secretary of Transportation in your hometown planning for transportation's future. The Secretary of Transportation is the head of the agency that provides funding for State and local transportation projects and, for the reason of today's meeting, larger national-scale projects such as I-73. So, that's is just what happened this morning. I got a tip late last night from a Darlington County colleague (thank you, Brooks) that explained that there was going to be a transportation roundtable at SiMT Friday morning.

The Planning Services team with Secretary Ray LaHood (from left, Renee Proctor, Elizabeth Ervin, myself, and Debi Matthews at the right of the Secretary.

Of course you know what I said: "what roundtable meeting on transportation at SiMT?"
So a quick search for the meeting came up with Secretary LaHood's appearance in the Pee Dee - only the second for this position. Then, since I was excited about a potential 'fun Friday' with my staff, I woke up and called them to see if they were interested! ...yes, they were interested (and were already awake!). And, plus our intern was going to go, which I though would be a fantastic experience to see government in action.

Deputy Secretary of Transportation  John D. Porcari, who LaHood said, "really runs the department." 

During his presentation, Mr. Secretary mentioned that the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is compiling a reauthorization of the transportation funding bill (where FLATS, through SCDOT, gets it's guideshare funding) worth nearly $500 billion with a tenth of that being a "down payment" to begin with the larger, important projects that the President mentioned in Milwaukee on Labor Day.

All in all, a very eye-opening day with an audience full of elected officials, MPO staff members from GSATS (our Myrtle Beach colleagues, Grand Strand Transportation Study), directors and administrators of many of the jurisdictions that would be affected by the new interstate highway.

Exciting times here in Florence!

This blog was edited to correct the number of visits the Sec. of Trans. has visited SC.

Where does your water come from?

I attended an interesting workshop yesterday about protecting our drinking water supply. This is an important issue integrated into our new Future Land Use element of the Comprehensive Plan.

Please take a moment and let us know where you get most of your water by taking the survey on the right!

This photo is of the Little Pee Dee River.

Another Piece to the Puzzle

County Planning met (braving the slushy roads) yesterday with Economic Development Partnership for a productive discussion about the Future Land Use element of the Comprehensive Plan. It's great to be a part of these instances when knowing information up front can ward off many future conflicting plans.

Economic Development is located in the Southeast Institute of Manufacturing Technology on the Florence Darlington Technical College campus (pictured to the left). Beyond the fabulous campus, this team includes hard-working employees dedicated to keep the Pee Dee region an attractive destination for relocating businesses. And it works! ...QVC ...Heinz ...Monster.com

This team, headed up by Joe King, includes those whom I have met so far, Jessica Griggs, Kyle Edney and Thelma Carney-Kennedy. In addition to the Future Land Use element, this group has been instrumental in reviewing our Economic element as well as sit in on a conversation with DHEC regarding our air quality. Feel free to visit their website!

So, what happened in the meeting?

You'll just have to wait to see the Future Land Use element!

Okay, I can give you sneak peak: we learned that industrial businesses like to be close to rail or no more than 10 miles from an interstate. We learned about sites that this team is actively marketing for industrial development such as property west of Roche Carolina and south toward Smurfitt-Stone, areas south of Honda on I-95, and areas around 327, especially near its interchange with I-95.

Another topic that was discussed was a plan for biofuel refineries and its product transport. More props to the benefit of locating adjacent to a rail line.

Still more discussion was focused on a 'freight community' or 'freight village' - a place where freight exchanges modes. For example, a train off-loads goods to a long-haul truck and where long-haul truck transfers goods to smaller light trucks, etc. Where would such a place be located? One potential is where we have these modes close together - such as where the airport, Hwy 76, Hwy 327 and the rail line come together.

These are the visions! Yes, they are general and only a vision; but it's better to be prepared for the area's potential future than see a mixture of uses that should have been further separated [I would not live adjacent to an industrial park!]

Industry affects surrounding land uses, traffic and the ability for governments to provide services such as water, sewer, as well as fire and police protection. It's a hope that this plan will be able to place industry in the right place - buffered from residential and natural resources like our waterways.

Tis' the Season for Public Hearings

As Florence County Future Land Use and Transportation plans are being worked on, public hearings are scheduled to get the public in on the planning level. Check out and visit the bottom of the blog for public notices for your area.

Planning this Week - October 27

Halloween is around the corner, and it's scary to think how much we have done this month and how much more we have to do over the next two weeks.

Transportation Planning and the Comprehensive Plan are the two big-time consumers of our focus:

Transportation (Florence Area Transportation Study, FLATS): The Policy Committee (The FLATS decision-makers, read - the real hard workers of this outfit) will be meeting on November 10th at 10:30 at the City/County Complex, Room 803. The agenda will be out today or Wednesday (I am in Charleston tomorrow for a tree workshop). Send me an e-mail if you are interested in a copy.

The most important item is the presentation by our recommended consultant to do Florence's long-range transportation plan... what roads will be widened, circled, razed or paved... I invite all those citizens that drive cars, bicycles or walk to join in on the discussion...

Otherwise, every street will be limited to two-way traffic and have bicycle lanes, adequate sidewalks, tree lined medians and an occasional traffic circle. If you are okay with that, then don't worry - we've got you covered!

Comprehensive Plan: Again, this is the County's vision 20-30 years into the future. This plan should answer questions like 'where will the next school be built?', 'how many parks will we need for our growing population?', 'how many police will we need in the future?' and 'how do we grow responsibly?'

We are currently working on the Community Facilities and Future Land Use elements. Community Facilities focuses on infrastructure like roads, police, fire, sewer, schools, parks, etc. whereas the Future Land Use is the framework towards zoning (keeping the cold side cold and the hot side hot - see my previous blog)

At this Tuesday's County Planning Commission meeting (6:30PM City/County Complex, Rm 803), a workshop for planning members will be discussed for the Community Facilities element. We are currently finishing up maps and stats which we will share after the workshop (proposed for Nov 13th).

The Future Land Use Element requires a bit more procedure to get everyone on board and does not solely rely on statistics and levels of service. For that reason, this element takes more time and dedication to the newest planning principles: namely, sustainability!

How do we integrate sustainability into our plans? Now that is a good question to bring up to any planning commission member, elected official or employee of the City or County planning departments. They'll thank you for it!

Check out our future land use maps for Olanta and Scranton. Johnsonville's maps should be available soon as well as areas surrounding Pamplico and Lake City (these municipalities have their own planning, so we plan up to the cities' boundaries.) Olanta has a public meeting at their town hall on November 10th, 6:30PM to discuss their future land use.

We know there are planners out there - please help us plan for the next 30 years!

Information, Generation, Imagination

The EPA released news last Thursday that tracking power plant emissions is "just a few clicks of a mouse" away. The release explains Power Profiler and EGRID

I did some clicking of my own at their referenced sites: http://www.epa.gov/powerprofiler and http://www.epa.gov/egrid to see what they had to offer.

Power Profiler offers interesting insight into what our area's fuel mix for generating our power. You won't find any 'green' sources; but remember, this data is from 2005 - a little old for such an interactive tool. Also, the information is most specifically based on a national subregion scale. Further, the data only shows the rates for Progress Energy and it's uncertain if that includes Santee Cooper and SCE&G generation plants (if there are any).

It's interesting information, but I feel there should be more specific details available.

Thankfully, EGRID includes 2007 data and is more for the in-depth user who likes to work with spreadsheets. You may download the latest version (17MB) to your hard drive and work on excel files and view summary pdf files. The excel spreadsheets have a nice layout, but have drawbacks in cryptic abbreviated references such as state ID numbers, the 'prime mover type' and 'generator fuel' in the generation file.

Click on the graphic below to view a local selection from the generation table:

It's interesting to see that the Stone Container Florence Mill generates electricity by using a mixture of fuels: coal (23.7%), oil (9.3%), and gas (0.3%) with the majority ascertained from biomass (66.7%). It's also interesting to see that the majority of the plant is owned by CBS Corp. and General Electric.

So, these tools are quite useful if you have some time to dive into it and have some specific generation questions. But, be prepared to use your imagination to find answers.

Planning This Week | September 22, 2008

FLATS - Transportation issues are taking center stage this week. The Florence Area Transportation Study (FLATS, yes, I know you already know that acronym) will be finalizing our recommendation for a contractor to help with the long-range transportation plan and transportation element of the County's comprehensive plan. Three submittals have been reviewed and the final tallies will be completed today.

The next stops: Study Team (a technical group) meeting next month to get the okay to recommend a contractor to the Policy Committee (decision-making body) - also to be scheduled for next month.

October will be busy for transportation planners!

Comprehensive Plan - We are heading to Scranton this Wednesday to discuss our drafted future land use plan with the Town's administration. We should also be able to get a public hearing date to show the plan off to the public.

The Community Facilities element continues to take shape and should be ready as a workshop for the Planning Commission (yes, you guessed it!) next month!

October may be busy for long-range planners!

Air Quality - So many things happening on this front... unfortunately, two meetings have already occurred: The Water and Energy Stakeholder's meeting at Francis Marion University held last Tuesday night and the County Council meeting last Thursday where County Planning presented the status of our air quality.

The Water and Energy meeting was fantastic. The goal was to act as a public forum for a State Senate subcommittee whom are seeking comments about water and energy programs... and they got a lot of comments!

The County Council presentation resulted in the Council requesting a list of potential programs that will be result in cleaner air. So far, this year, we are in attainment - but the next two years will be tough! Send me your ideas to be incorporated into the list to the County Council.

October busy for air quality planners? - oh yeah!

Flip to LID

The Florence County Planning Commission sponsored a presentation about the opportunities in low impact development (LID).

The presenter is an experienced, professional landscape designer/engineer/planner who shared information about the benefits of sustainable development to members of the Florence area community. John Thomas, from WK Dickson, presented projects integrating low impact development practices and cost savings while maximizing the number and value of developable lots.

In addition to numerous Planning Commission members and city and county staff, the event was attended by engineering firms, consultants and developers including Engineering Consultants, Inc.; D-Hall Construction Company, Finklea Law Firm, RWF Construction, BP Barber and WK Dickson's Columbia office.

To learn more about low impact development, please visit some of the following sites:

http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/

http://www.stormwatercenter.net/

http://water.washington.edu/

City of Charlotte Land Development Standards Manual

And since these development practices help keep our drinking water clean, this next website includes some helpful development ideas as well:

Center for Watershed Protection

Look for more local presentations of new, sustainable ways to develop Florence responsibly.