The Regional Visioning Process

In Our Region, Report To The Region, Resource
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A Report to the Region, pg 8 – View the “Report to the Region”, PDF

One of the basic tenets of CRT is the concept that we in the region can guide our growth. We also believe that by working together we can develop new ideas to change the direction that current trends take us. There are many reasons to do so: the savings in infrastructure dollars, the revitalization of our cities and towns, the improvements in our environment. However, all of these will only be possible if we as a region can agree to a common vision, one that will engender enough support from enough people that change is feasible. This vision must be based on a core set of common values; it must solve real, critical problems without making things worse; and it must be achievable.

In order to discover this common vision and better document growth scenarios, CRT identified model initiatives and secured national experts to guide its research program. The services of Fregonese Calthorpe & Associates, a nationally recognized firm specializing in regional growth planning were secured in early 2001 to guide CRT’s research and visioning efforts. Research was then completed to other regions of the country that faced and are successfully addressing similar rapid growth issues. Envision Utah, a public/private partnership, was identified as the most effective model because of its emphasis on the wide ranging participation and support of citizens, developers, regional, state, and local government officials, and many other constituency groups through a workshop/scenario planning process. Based on Envision Utah’s methods, CRT gathered trend data and conducted a series of workshops from which three important sets of information were determined—the Base Case, Guiding Tenets, and the Alternative Case. The following sections describe what we learned: