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Regional Growth Management Plan

The Regional Growth Management Plan (RGMP) is the second of two major planning efforts undertaken by our region and is funded in large part by grants awarded by the Office of Economic Adjustment, an agency of the Department of Defense charged with helping BRAC-affected communities adjust to the impacts of mission changes at military installations.

The purpose of the RGMP is to prepare for the coming changes through a coordinated approach that engages community and military installation leaders in planning and implementing growth management actions across the spectrum of community planning.

The RGMP will enable Fort Benning and the surrounding 10-county region to speak with a single voice when dealing with state and federal agencies in the competition for resources. Other benefits include building stronger regional and bi-state partnerships and fostering public and private sector creativity in solving problems. The RGMP will identify the likely impacts of growth, prompt a realistic reassessment of needs and priorities and will contribute to realistic, updated comprehensive plans.  Although adoption of study recommendations is optional for each participating county government, the RGMP represents a unique opportunity to chart the near term future of our region.

The RGMP will look at counties in a 35 mile radius of Fort Benning including Chattahoochee, Harris, Muscogee, Marion, Stewart, Talbot and Taylor counties in Georgia and Barbour, Lee and Russell counties in Alabama.

The RGMP was awarded to SAIC and their partners by The Valley Partnership Joint Development Authority, with the contract implementation from December 1, 2007 through April 2009.

The objectives of the RGMP are:

  1. identify the issues and offer strategic solutions to accommodate the impacts of growth due to FortBenning’s expansion and other economic development;
  2. encourage the development of compatible and coordinated planning between neighboring counties, and;
  3. provide each of the affected communities with their own comprehensive and concise growth management plan, as well as provide one coordinated regional growth plan for the entire ten-county bi-state area.

The RGMP study will start by examining existing plans and conditions that would affect the various communities as the BRAC-related growth occurs. Specific areas include:

  1. Identification and Assessment of Existing Issues and Conditions
  2. Growth Forecasting and Modeling
  3. Economic Impact Analysis
  4. Transportation
  5. Public and Private Utilities and Infrastructure
  6. Housing Market Analysis
  7. Education
  8. Sustainable Land Use Planning
  9. Regional Growth Plan Maps
  10. Public Engagement and Communications
  11. Environmental Impacts
  12. Health and Social Services
  13. Public Safety and Emergency Services
  14. Quality of Life
  15. Fiscal Analysis and Sustainability Plan
  16. Implementation and Follow-Up

The data collected in the course of this study will be placed in county-level and a regional database, to be used by all the participating governments. Included will be a summary of existing conditions, approved plans and identification of gaps where there are insufficient action plans or insufficient data to draw conclusions. There will also be thorough documentation of data sources and citations in a bibliography.

Who: The planning team includes: The Valley Partnership Joint Development Authority, a bi-state multi-governmental entity that enhances the development and promotion of commerce, trade, industry and employment opportunities for the public good and general welfare of the Region; SAIC, a leading systems, solutions and technical services company that recently supported EDAW’s work on the Valley Partnership ’s 2007 Fort Benning Joint Land Use Study; EDAW, an AECOM company that specializes in the broad and increasingly complex issues of land use planning and design and was the primary contractor for the 2007 Fort Benning Joint Land Use study; Market Street Services, a national economic and community development consulting firm based in Atlanta ; and RKG Associates, a multi-discipline economic, planning and real estate consulting firm.