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"We don't want to become another Atlanta"


krazeeboi

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Notice anything missing? The other 7 counties perhaps? Some stats on the 10 county Upstate area as a whole? Discussion on the rest of the Piedmont Megalopolitan area (which includes Atlanta and Charlotte among others) ? I could continue, but siffice it to say that as far as I'm concerned this article is nothing but fluff.
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It cited Greenville's growth numbers in there, which the rest of the state is taking note of. Representatives from every city in South Carolina will be in Greenville next week to learn more about "how the city has pulled off so much development." The Municipal Association of SC will be holding its annual meeting. ;)
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That is a good article. It cited Greenville's growth numbers in there, which the rest of the state is taking note of. Representatives from every city in South Carolina will be in Greenville next week to learn more about "how the city has pulled off so much development." The Municipal Association of SC will be holding its annual meeting. ;)
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Great point & that has been my major gripe about planning for Atlanta as well as any other city, including my noted arguments regarding Charlotte years ago. In this modern urban era of development, growth is not centrally located around the primary city, but around multiple suburban nodes. Which leads to growth in exurban counties, where most people either choose to ignore or just assume they will never develop.

But any metropolitan plan that does not include exurban counties is totally insufficient.

Not to mention another problem - regarding the need to curb or control sprawl / urban growth, 'planning' is not the problem. As the case with Georgia counties, they all have long term plans that are submitted to the local MPO regularly. They all say the same thing & 'map out' the growth. But counties don't follow future use plans & even the plans themselves leave most questions unanswered.

I'm pessimistic certainly, but it will take regulation & enforcement from not just the city, county, MPO (which has little control), & even the state to truly curb rampant sprawl and I don't see that occurring.

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The fact that the Municipal Association is meeting in Greenville is actually just part of the regular rotation of their annual summer meeting. The meeting rotates between those SC cities with convention and hotel space to meet their needs (Greenville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head ... a smaller winter meeting is always in Columbia). It is not a meeting to learn about Greenville and its successes, but the rather an educational opportunity for municipal elected officials. Of course, I am sure these visitors will greatly enjoy all the wonderful sucesses Greenville has to offer; however since 90% of the association membership is small towns, their challenges differ greatly from those of an urban center like Greenville.
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The fact that the Municipal Association is meeting in Greenville is actually just part of the regular rotation of their annual summer meeting. The meeting rotates between those SC cities with convention and hotel space to meet their needs (Greenville, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head ... a smaller winter meeting is always in Columbia). It is not a meeting to learn about Greenville and its successes, but the rather an educational opportunity for municipal elected officials. Of course, I am sure these visitors will greatly enjoy all the wonderful sucesses Greenville has to offer; however since 90% of the association membership is small towns, their challenges differ greatly from those of an urban center like Greenville.
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Thats a very telling image. They should have included that map in the article Krazee posted the other day. The land area involved is much more than the Upstate. I didn't realize that Columbia was part of the mix too. Thats interesting.

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That is an interesting map, but I am curious as to why they included certain cities on the outer fringe while leaving others out that are certain to grow into the same megalopolis in time. Where is Augusta-Aiken? What about Charleston-North Charleston? If you include the Tri-Cities of Tennessee, it would make sense to include the much larger Charleston region as well, considering the sprawling growth taking place there and its northward connection via I-26 and I-95. This is an interesting study to be sure, and it will definitely need a bit of updating as future development takes shape in certain areas.

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Because there is very little development between Columbia & Augusta or Charleston. As for the Tri-Cities, I see your point. Still, I find it surprising that Columbia & Knoxville were included in the first place. That is the problem with including marginal locations, once you add one questionable location that just opens up more questions.

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And there's the problem again with the whole megalopolis phenomenon thats taking place. Its too split up with too many different cities wanting too many different things. You are right about many things... Charlotte's MPO is the Mecklenburg-Union Metropolitan Planning Organization (MUMPO), so it covers two counties, but it does not include Iredell, Gaston, or Cabarrus in NC, and its politically impossible to include York and Lancaster in SC (though they seem to be more willing to work with Charlotte than the NC counties (just my opinion, no proof).

But I think the best answer to the question of what SC cities can look to is what the city of Charlotte is doing. At this point, we all recognize that the cities are the most progressive when it comes to planning. Counties, particularly in SC are not. So, I think its best to look at Charlotte because the City itself is huge, and covers a lot of territory that is still growing (similar to many counties). Charlotte, as a city, still manages a lot of new growth, and from what I can tell does at least have some vision, and does make some effort towards making things better down the road. So what can SC cities look to if not Charlotte?

As for regional planning, find any metro in any state that actually does this effectively. Maybe Portland, OR. Maybe. But there are many conerns about their method of doing things.

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I have no idea - plenty of sunbelt cities are great role models for urban redevelopment, Greenville being one of them. But all sunbelt metros are doing a terrible job regarding sprawl. In most cases regional cooperation is nonexistant or the MPO governments are powerless.
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Thats two different things. When you talk about mitigating sprawl, I think about manging new growth and its impacts in such a way that it improves the current situation. Revelelopment is a different issue, albeit equally important.

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