There's lots to do this week in the Planning Services section and we are missing one our colleagues for a few days! Come back soon, Reneé!
Comprehensive Planning - The County Planning Commission will be presented with the Economic Element of the Comprehensive Plan tomorrow night at 6:30 in room 803 of the City/County Complex. This element is a revisit to the existing element that has been in place since the 90's. Data, goals and objectives have all been updated. The drafted element is currently located on the County's planning website: http://www.florenceco.org/Planning/Economic_Element.pdf
In other comprehensive plan news, the land use element will be ready soon for its first meetings with coordinating municipalities (those cities in the Florence County that contract with the County for zoning duties). Land Use seems to always be contenious subject matter, so we are also anticipating numerous public meetings with its roll out.
The request for qualifications for a consultant to help in producing the transportation element and long range transportation plan have gone out. The qualifications are due by August 15th. Contact me if you want a copy.
FLATS (Transportation Planning) - Centered around the confluence of I-20 and I-95, FLATS plans for transportation needs in the Florence metropolitan area. Recently, an enhancement project to create a connector park on South Irby was passed by the FLATS Policy Committee (the FLATS decision-making board). The project, as proposed by the City of Florence, will landscape the northeast corner of Irby and Cedar Streets, make a formal connector to the main library, and serve as a gateway to downtown Florence. FLATS staff is currently requesting support letters from the transportation commissioner and region's SCDOT engineer. After that, the project will be submitted to SCDOT for funding.
Air Quality - I wish I could share better news about our air quality. What I can share is that we have a lot of potential to meet our air quality standards. I have found out that our biggest polluters are you and me!
That's right; our vehicles make the largest impacts to our air quality. Sitting at lights (we're looking at that), sitting at the bank teller or fast food drive [sit]-thru, or picking up Bobby and Sue from swim school. Of course, there are the obvious influences: interstate interchange on our back step, the idling semi-trailers at the Petro station, electrical generation plants and manufacturing plants...how can we reduce these influences? Please share your thoughts... do we make five-points a traffic circle? Might we all step onto public transit for a day out of the week? Do we all take Friday's off?
I am looking for answers, solutions and notable ways to improve our air quality. What is your idea?
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