Earth Day - County's frugal plan

Did you walk to work or school today? It is a perfect day for a walk or bicycle ride anywhere around town. Need to go to lunch at the mall? - take the bus. PDRTA has a route that passes through the area (did you know they added yet another route for the southern part of the City of Florence).

All of these questions lead me to wish you a happy Earth Day and give you a perspective on how the County wants to save money by being frugal.

As you know, we are working on the Comprehensive (thinking BIG) Plan. The plan outlines where we are now and where we see ourselves in the next 30 years. I told you it was big. 

The element we are currently working on is the Future Land Use - how and where the County will grow over this long period of time. This is the quintescential plan of plans! I know many people don't know (or don't care?) and haven't read their County's Comprehensive Plan (and ours has pretty pictures, too!), but let me share what is drafted so far in the opening paragraph:

The Future Land Use Element represents a culmination of many elements of the Florence County Comprehensive Plan. Information from the Population, Community Facilities, Economic Development and Natural Resources elements are utilized to create the foundation for directing responsible future growth in the County. The Future Land Use element incorporates the analysis and future strategy of these elements and emphasizes sustainability and prudence as the priority objective for growth. The overarching goal is to create efficiency in utilizing our manufactured and natural infrastructure.

Feel free to send me any feedback.

I recently read some interesting material comparing the effectiveness of frugality and efficiency in a sort of 'chicken or the egg' discussion. Except, this time the benefit is clear to be frugal before being efficient; whereas, the opposite holds little confidence of arriving at both. 

For example, limiting the exent to grow beyond municipal boundaries (frugality) may lead to more efficient housing opportunities within the boundary. A example in the contrary - high density residential zoning allowed anywhere in reference to municiapal services creates sprawl, much like what is found on Alligator Road. This second example, although efficient this example highlights an antithesis to frugality.

All these ideas tie into sustainability and minimizing our ecological footprint. How are you reducing your footprint this Earth Day?

Oh, and one more thing - ozone forcast for today and the past few days have been green! Good Job!