Taking a Survey Might Help Shape Our Economy

This commission has a hand in major land planning, transportation and even attempting to make our communities more livable. It helps train our cities' planners, might award a city with grant dollars for being green and can find a way to help study problems in land use and transportation. Federal stimulus dollars were funneled through it, in part, and it's the organization through which the state often works with communities.

It's the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), and now is one of those times you can tell the planners what you see as the region's future, by taking a survey.

The ARC, in collaboration with local economic development agencies, governments and chambers of commerce, wants your help in developing a Regional Economic Development Strategy for metro Atlanta by taking the survey. This strategy will help provide a clear roadmap to strengthen the region’s position within an increasingly competitive global economy.

 “As one of the fastest growing metro areas in the nation for the last 40 years or so, the Atlanta region has not needed a lot of help in growing its economy,” said Tad Leithead, ARC Chairman. “Our local governments and chambers have done an outstanding job attracting new companies and workers to metro Atlanta. But as the region has struggled to recover from the recession, ARC thought a regional plan might make the area more competitive globally than any one community could be.”

In its invitation to local residents to take the survey, the ARC says the regional strategy "will complement the plans being implemented around the 10-county region and will tie into Governor Deal’s Georgia Competitiveness Initiative, sending a clear message to potential metro Atlanta workers, leaders, corporate citizens and investors that the region remains an economic leader, even during the current recession."

The 10 counties are:

1. Cherokee
2. Clayton
3. Cobb
4. DeKalb
5. Douglas
6. Fayette
7. Fulton
8. Gwinnett
9. Henry
10. Rockdale

If you've been attending the Milton-Alpharetta Hwy. 9 Livable Centers Initiative at Milton City Hall for the past few months, you've been participating in an ARC-funded study. Alpharetta has similar LCI studies that received funding from the ARC.

Whenever a development is deemed to be so big it might have a regional impact, the ARC needs to study the plan to determine if it indeed is a Development of Regional Impact. And the agency might impose additional conditions to lessen any negative impacts through those DRI studies. Prospect Park–now being developed by a new property owner as Avalon–underwent such  DRI study, and it was supposed to provide some sort of public transit service between the property on Old Milton Parkway and a mass transit service, such as a park and ride or a MARTA station.

The survey will be a major component informing the plan’s recommendations and should take you 15 to 20 minutes to complete. Your responses are confidential. The survey will be available until Friday, Feb. 24.