Investing in Land

It may be 75 miles from Greensboro, North Carolina to Cary (a suburb to the Tar Heel State’s capital of Raleigh) but the two towns are in synch on the need to create clearer and accessible land development guidelines.  Whatever the current state of the economy, City leaders and citizens are looking to the future.

In Greensboro, according to the News-Record, an update of the city’s land development rules is headed to the City Council for approval.  “The goal of the rewrite is to make the ordinance easier to understand and use for everyone, from developers to residents affected by re zonings.”

In Cary, the process is not as far along, but is headed in the same direction.  According to the Cary Citizen newspaper a set of town hall meetings are being held that “will be used to further revise the proposed draft plan before the county or the town hold official public hearings in Spring 2010…”

In keeping with the move to regionalize development plans, the Cary eff0rt is being done in conjunction with Chatham County.

It is about 800 miles from Round Rock, Texas (hard by Austin) and Avon, Colorado (as close to Vail) but the air the leaders of each city are breathing must be the same.  In recent days, each has stepped up its efforts to participate more fully — and thoughtfully — in planning for the future of development.  Long a product of the expertise of companies like Walton International, development is becoming a team sport.

In Avon, there is a new community development director and assistant town manager.  Here is how the new hire was described:

“We believe (her) experience will help Avon move forward with its long-term goals such as developing the east and west town centers, affordable housing and improving our overall land use and planning practices,” said (the) Town Manager.

In Round Rock, it is not just a focus on the people, but the plan to make development happen.  As they put it:

“The City of Round Rock in early 2009 began work on improving its land development processes. This effort is part of the City’s overall philosophy of continuous improvement, and builds on previous efforts to streamline the land development process.”