Almost a decade later, the Council is undertaking a new strategic plan for the region's development. It is prompted in part by federal legislation requiring a "comprehensive economic development strategy" (CEDS), in order to remain eligible for programs of the US Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration. The new Steering Committee first met in December 2000. Like the previous regional vision, the new plan seeks to involve a broad cross-section of regional leaders on its Steering Committee and task forces.

The Council is indebted to the Economic Development Administration (EDA), AdvantageWest, and the NC Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. (Rural Center) for funds to underwrite this effort. Through these funds, David Werle has joined the Council to spearhead staff work and support the Steering Committee and task forces.

EDA is funding the effort as a demonstration that will test a variety of techniques including new technology and cost-effective approaches to the planning process. EDA's Southeast Regional Office is providing funding for the yearlong effort and a second phase, to be completed in 2001-2002, which will develop guidance on strategic plan development to other Economic Development Districts in the Southeast and throughout the country. Techniques to be tested include use of a web page, an e-mail listserve and focus groups as means of communication among the Steering Committee, task forces, and the public. The Committee will use the Council's experience in developing its first strategic plan, in which it collaborated with strategic planning consultant Bill Dodge to produce a manual entitled "Shaping A Region's Future: A Guide To Strategic Decision-Making for Regions." This document was distributed nationally by EDA and the Appalachian Regional Commission and has been republished by the National League of Cities. Since Economic Development Districts nationwide are required to develop a comprehensive economic development strategy but are provided no additional funds to do so, this demonstration project that focuses on cost-effective techniques to obtain citizen and advisory board input for these plans as helpful.

AdvantageWest is providing funds because of the contribution this plan will make to other Economic Development Districts in the 23-county AdvantageWest area, plus anticipated contributions to two current projects. These are a comprehensive labor market assessment and master planning for future industrial parks in the AdvantageWest region.

The Rural Center is assisting the Council to develop ways for those participating in the planning to evaluate proposed strategies with an eye toward sustainable development, finding ways to maintain and improve the environment and area livability and make this "restorative" approach part of an economic strategy.

The Steering Committee consists of representatives from all segments -- the Council's Executive Committee, other public officials, educational leaders, local developers, healthcare providers, environmental groups, utility representatives, etc. Council Chairman Fred Niehoff states, "We hope this strategic plan will chart a course for the next decade. It is important for all sectors of our region to help develop a regional vision for this decade and beyond. A strategic plan will help us to determine which actions need to be taken now to position us for a better future for decades to come. We are excited about those who have agreed to participate in developing the plan. We also look forward to input from the public."

The new staff person assigned to this effort, David Werle, is a 1990 graduate on economics and psychology from Vanderbilt University. An Illinois native, he has worked at Volvo Construction Equipment, NA, Inc. since 1993, most recently as Market Analyst. He has also been Project Control Manager for a Chicago architectural firm. In Asheville, he has served as board member of the Beverly Hills Neighborhood Homeowners Association, and volunteered for VWIN (Volunteer Water Information Network).

Originally published in LOSRC Revional News, Winter 2000-01

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CEDS becomes Regional Vision 2010

 In December, 2000 the Council hired former private sector market analyst Dave Werle to guide a major update of its earlier regional strategic plan published in 1992. Werle, working with Council Director Bob Shepherd and Assistant Director Jim Stokoe, has been hard at work helping to organize a diverse group of more than 50 people from throughout Buncombe, Henderson, Madison and Transylvania counties to oversee and guide the plan. Highlights of this steering committee's work over the last three months include:

• Council Chairman Fred Niehoff has appointed the following leader for RV 2010:
• Chairman -- Lou Bissette, attorney and civic leader and former Mayor of Asheville.
• Vice-chairman -- Joy Staton of Henderson County, county director for the NC Cooperative Extension Service.
• Secretary -- Rodney Locks, City Councilman and Treasurer of the Land-of-Sky Regional Council.
• The group has named the project and given it a draft subtitle, as follows:

Regional Vision 2010
"A collaborative regional strategy to develop a sustainable economy, manage the region’s unique natural resources, and improve the quality of life and standard of living for all citizens."

• Steering committee members have articulated their individual visions of what Region B will be like 10 or more years in the future (see below)
• Three work groups have been formed:
• A group to profile the current "state of the Region;"
• A second group to identify and evaluate external forces and trends that will affect the Region; and
• A third group to investigate a new business model and economic planning tool called "Natural Capitalism" and its potential benefits to Regional Vision 2010 (see below)
• Several "Research Partner" organizations have stepped forward to assist these work groups with their data compilation and analysis:
• The Mountain Resource Center, Tim Richards, Director
• AdvantageWest, Dale Carroll, President and Sam Powers, Vice President-Industrial Marketing
• UNCA Departments of Economics (Dr. Leah Greden Mathews, Associate Professor) and Environmental Studies (Dr. Dee Eggers, Associate Professor).

Visions of the Future - The steering committee members visualize a "Region B of the Future" in which:
• The unique character, landscape, "sense of place" that we have is retained;
• Residents care about the entire Region, not just their city or county
• There is a reputation for caring for children/ "a great place to raise children"
• Interactive community growth leads to a sense of the Region
• We have better river access and utilization
• We are "wired" for telecommunications
• Small, locally-owned businesses predominate
• High quality of life attracts high-tech businesses -- resulting in more living-wage jobs
• Healthy town centers, river corridors, civic spaces, public spaces are abundant
• We retain our agricultural heritage (open space, beauty)
• Capability/facilities to care for our rapidly-growing elderly population are adequate
• The divide between affluent housing and affordable housing has been closed
• Safe and secure communities abound
• We embrace our cultural & ethnic diversity, and address racial/ethnic bias
• The media environment contains rich local & regional content

Media Partnerships for Public Involvement - Two members of the news media serve on the Regional Vision 2010 steering committee -- Asheville Citizen-Times Publisher Virgil Smith; and Wally Bullman, Executive Director of the Mountain Area Information Network. In the group's discussion of public involvement, both urged the committee to forge partnerships with the news media early in the process.

Virgil Smith commented that "The project is excellently positioned for public education." Smith went on to say, "There is a great story of collaboration to be told here -- I'm excited that this also is a great opportunity to cover areas outside of Buncombe County."

Wally Bullman suggested creating an interactive website for Regional Vision 2010 that could simultaneously inform the public and serve as a feedback mechanism for people with Internet access. He said MAIN would be glad to host such a website. Bullman also mentioned that MAIN's home page provides links to the Asheville Citizen-Times online news service Citizen-Times.com, which also would be a great resource for the strategic planning project. Virgil Smith said Citizen-Times.com would cooperate with Regional Vision 2010 also. The Council’s process was committed early on to using technology to facilitate input from those who live and work in the region.

Natural Capitalism -- a Potential New Tool - The steering committee's natural capitalism work group is investigating a new business model which involves the following principles:
• Dramatically improved resource productivity -- getting more product out of less energy & raw materials, for example;
• Biomimicry -- redesigning industrial processes to copy nature's designs, in which there are no "waste" products to dispose of, and in which no toxics are produced that cannot be recycled by natural ecosystems;
• Providing services (such as comfort) rather than selling products (such as air conditioners) -- this creates incentive for cost efficiency and more recycling of resources;
• Reinvesting in natural capital** and human capital -- examples are planting trees or rehabilitating a watershed.

** Natural capital is defined as high-quality natural resources; ecosystem services,
such as purification of water and climate regulation; and scenic beauty.

According to the authors of the natural capitalism concept, benefits of applying natural capitalism to business and commerce can include:
• It is profitable. Improving efficiency and reducing waste improves companies' bottom lines (more of the feedstock gets into the product and less into the waste stream), reduces risk of liability (for toxic spills, for example) and waste disposal and regulatory costs.
• It is strategic. By responding directly to the external threats of increasing resource scarcity and ecosystem degradation worldwide, it can be used to position a company or community for future economic advantage.
• It is market-driven. For example, by redesigning price signals to account for the value of our natural capital, it becomes cheaper to operate in a more environmentally sound manner. Market signals can then make regulations obsolete, saving the cost to businesses, government and citizens of drafting, enforcing and litigating the regulations.
• It can reduce conflicts among business, environmental interests and government that have their roots in conflicts between the dominant business model and nature.

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Exploring the Issues

 Now that much background work has been done, the regional strategic plan has moved into a new phase. In this phase of the planning process, the focus will be on completing two critical tasks, the regional profile and the external scan.

As this is a strategic and not a comprehensive plan, the steering committee has chosen to do targeted research and data collecting for the regional profile. Staff started by compiling all the steering committee visions for the region and their suggested research topics, while looking for themes or areas of particular interest. Great brainstorming sessions with the regional profile work group and research partners led to a proposed set of core questions to be answered by the targeted research effort.

At the steering committee meeting in April, a progress report was done and the questions were presented to the committee. The question was then asked of the committee, "Which of these questions, if answered during the research process, would be most helpful to you in selecting strategic issues for the plan?" To answer that, each committee member was given sticky dots to cast their votes for the questions they felt needed to be answered. Voters could cast more than one of their votes for a single question they liked, so some calculated and strategic voting took place. The committee members that were not able to attend the meeting will get a chance to cast their votes via the Land-of-Sky web site or e-mail. So far without counting the absentee ballots, these four earned the most steering committee votes:
• Is our educational system adequately developing a work force and providing life skills to our children?
• What are the current land use patterns and what is the rate of change in land use patterns in our region?
• Can residents in the region currently earn a living wage (based on our cost of living) or is underemployment widespread?
• What are the impacts of environmental problems on economic development in our region?

The external scan work group has also been busy. They took on the daunting task of identifying the external forces that will impact our region most significantly in the future. Contrary to the regional profile work group, this group didn't look at the details of what's happening in our region now. They took a much broader perspective. Some said it was "the view from 30,000 feet above." Some of the major external forces identified were:
• Global Marketing Force of Capitalism
• National Energy Policy
• Population Forces and Trends
• Science and Technology

In addition to these, a general threat to our region's "sense of place" was reported as an issue of special concern. This had also surfaced as a major theme from steering committee visions and research suggestions. A lively discussion followed presentation of these issues and concluded with applause for the presenters, LaVoy Spooner and Paul Cobb.

At a full day retreat in July, both the regional profile and the external scan work groups will present their final reports to the steering committee. Then the selection of regional strategic issues will begin.

Originally published in Regional News, May 11, 2001

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Work Group Reports on Strategic Issues

Affordability Group -- Regional Vision 2010
(Members: Artie Wilson, George Morosani, Phil Monk, Pat Smith, Karen Kiehna, Barry Shope, Charles Worley)

Strategic Issue
We desire that all the citizens in the region (and their future generations) can financially afford to live here.

Strategic Initiative #1
Attract / Maintain Higher Paying Jobs

Why important? Regional? Strategic?
This initiative addresses the fact that the average wage per job in region is lower than in NC and the trend over time shows that the gap is widening. In 1980, average wage per job in region B was 3% more than in NC. In 1999, we earned 9% less than in the state. However, a gap is not apparent in per capita income due to the large and increasing unearned income component of PCI (due to growing retired population).

This initiative is regional because, (1) this situation is common to all counties within Region B, and (2) increasing numbers of high paying jobs in one part of the region would affect residents of other parts of the region that may commute out of their county to work -- the labor market crosses county boundaries.

This initiative is strategic because it addresses a trend that could threaten working families' ability to earn a living and remain in the region (i.e., high-impact).

Potential Goals/Strategies:
1. Develop success stories of businesses over last 5 years
2. Encourage development of high level technical educational opportunities
3. Regional cooperation to develop industrial sites and infrastructure
4. Regional coordination in promoting economic development now and in the future.
Strategic Initiative #2
Create / Encourage Affordable Housing -- It is important to provide affordable housing options to the Region's lower and middle income families 

Why important? Regional? Strategic?
This initiative seeks to address a growing problem in the region as median home prices increase at a much faster rate than average wages. This trend is due, in part, to market conditions, especially demand coming from outside the region for high-priced retirement and second homes. Meanwhile, the percentage of affordable housing units is decreasing. 

This initiative is regional because, (1) this situation is common to all counties within Region B, and (2) because the housing market is, to an extent, regional -- people locate within different parts of the region based on housing value. 

The continual immigration of people and their wealth to the region poses the threat of making housing even less affordable in the future. This initiative is strategic as it seeks to address a current gap and this future threat to citizens' ability, (1) to move from renting to owning, (2) to live near where they work, and (3) for young people to return to their home region to live (or not leave in the first place). 

Potential Strategies:
The immediate initiatives/strategies:
Create a regional task force to review affordable housing challenges in both rural and urban areas within our region. "Think out of the Box"
Design and introduce guidelines that expedite development review process in all municipalities
Contract with a one-stop-shop to link renters to affordable rental units (i.e., www.SocialServe.com)
Reexamine areas within the more urban municipalities to provide mixed density neighborhoods, senior (independent living) housing, and infill housing.

5-Year Initiatives/Strategies:
Create a regional task force to review affordable housing challenges in both rural and urban areas within our region. "Think out of the Box." In municipalities, where applicable, rezone land for new mixed use development to promote higher density including infill and multi-family housing.
Start a partnership with employers on housing benefits and programs for their employees (ex. Live Near Your Work, Employer Assisted Housing)
Expand housing fund programs within the region
Develop tax waiver for development that is inclusive (provides an affordable housing effort within or adjacent to their development)
Fast-track the development review process for affordable housing initiative
Waive fees for affordable housing
Expand the acquisition and development of permanently affordable housing
Land bank vacant property for future affordable housing development
Expand down payment assistance programs for the moderate income population
Expand rehabilitation loan pool
Expand supportive housing initiatives for special populations and seniors
Review manufactured housing park ordinances to improve density, health, and safety issues
Introduce manufactured housing park ordinances that promote homeowner stability
Create Neighborhood Housing Services land 

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Steering Committee

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