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Leaders from 14 Charlotte-area counties are trying to come up with a plan to help guide future growth across the region, and they’re looking for ideas from the public.
The three-year effort, dubbed “CONNECT Our Future,” will touch on a number of topics such as jobs, transportation, housing, the environment and infrastructure.
A series of events are being held across the region to help get public input on the plan.
In Mecklenburg, the sessions will kick off Wednesday in Charlotte. A three-hour open house is set for 4-7 p.m. today in the front concourse of Bojangle’s Coliseum, 2700 E. Independence Blvd. It’s a drop-in event, so you don’t have to stay for the entire three hours.
(View a schedule of other upcoming meetings in the box to the right.)
Attendees will be asked, among other things, what things they value about their community and what do they think are the biggest challenges in the region.
Organizers of “CONNECT Our Future,” say the region surrounding Mecklenburg has emerged as the country’s fastest-growing region among areas with a population of 1 million people or more. But they say the region is one of the largest without a framework for growth.
The 14 counties that would be covered in the regional plan are located in both North and South Carolina. They are: Anson, Cabarrus, Cleveland, Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln, Mecklenburg, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties in North Carolina, and Chester, Lancaster, Union and York counties in South Carolina.
The three-year effort is funded by a $4.9 million Sustainable Communities grant from the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, according to the Connect Our Future website. Another $3 million was contributed by “local in-kind public and private matching resources,” the group said.
Learn more at http://connectourfuture.org/
