Planning the Region's Future Focus of Event

Ever wonder what the future holds for the Charleston area?

Using four different development plans for the tri-county area, Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments will explore future growth and planning 5:30 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23, at Trident Technical College's Complex for Economic Development in North Charleston. 

Dorchester County Council Chairman Larry Hargett is the the chairman of COG's Regional Land Use Plan Committee, which has hosted the Our Region, Our Plan forum series. 

“From its inception, Our Region, Our Plan has been about gathering public input and ideas on how we can live and grow together as a region," Hargett said.

"We have talked about what we want for the region, now is the time to see how various growth and development choices perform in the future. The (Tuesday) forum is a must attend for everyone committed to making our region the best it can be."

The forum will explore each of four different scenarios, including one developed at the Fall 2010 workshops, and compare to Our Region, Our Plan goals and each other. Then help determine a preferred scenario for the region either from one of these scenarios or as a combination of the scenarios. 

With a preferred growth scenario as a guide, recommendations will then be made for supportive policies and infrastructure investments in the region in the next steps of the planning process.

Attendance for the forum is full. However, there will be a satellite location to attend at . Contact Kathryn Basha at 529-0400.

More about the Regional Land Planning Committee

Launched in 2008 by the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Government’s Regional Land Planning Committee, Our Region, Our Plan is a planning process designed to create a shared vision of the tricounty region for the year 2040. 

 According to the organization's website, Our Region, Our Plan: 

• Promotes thinking and decision-making on a regional scale to address shared concerns and realize common goals.

• Raises public awareness of issues and opportunities important to the economic health and quality of life in the region

• Invites the entire community to plan for our future including business and industry, community organizations, and all citizens – particularly those whose experiences and voices are too often underrepresented or overlooked.

Our Region, Our Plan is the largest public engagement process in the history of South Carolina, according to COG.  

The results from Our Region, Our Plan are not intended to add a layer to local legislation and decision-making, but to better inform and illustrate the connections among independent local decisions, according to the website. Further, Our Region, Our Plan will provide the BCDCOG and local governments a range of tools that can be used to implement the plans, ideas, and recommendations especially as they relate to infrastructure and regional transportation.