Regional planning organization

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A Regional Planning Organization is a government body that guides the development of public and private resources in a manner that ensures public safety, well being and livability. Regional planning organizations take different forms and may also include a metropolitan planning organization or may be part of a multi-state or multi-government association. A regional planning organization develops plans that coordinate planning by groups of local governments and special districts that have common social, political, economic, cultural or other similarities. [1] Generally this process takes the form of urban planning or one of its sub-disciplines such as land use planning, transportation planning, or environmental planning. [2]

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Regional planning organizations exist in a variety of different formats. In some areas they are a part of another organizations such as a Regional Council of Governments. [3] [4] Regional planning organizations are sometimes also called regional development organisations as the need for planning often includes key economic development issues.

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Transportation planning

Transportation planning is the process of defining future policies, goals, investments, and designs to prepare for future needs to move people and goods to destinations. As practiced today, it is a collaborative process that incorporates the input of many stakeholders including various government agencies, the public and private businesses. Transportation planners apply a multi-modal and/or comprehensive approach to analyzing the wide range of alternatives and impacts on the transportation system to influence beneficial outcomes.

Metropolitan Council

The Metropolitan Council, commonly abbreviated Met Council or Metro Council, is the regional governmental agency and metropolitan planning organization in Minnesota serving the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area, accounting for over 55 percent of the state's population. The Met Council is granted regional authority powers in state statutes by the Minnesota Legislature. These powers are unique in that unlike the Regional Development Commissions they can supersede decisions and actions of local governments. The legislature created the Metro Council to maintain public services, oversee growth of the state's largest metro area and to act as the regional planning organization. Like the Metro in Portland, Oregon, it also administers an urban growth boundary.

Councils of governments are regional governing and/or coordinating bodies that exist throughout the United States. CoGs are normally controlled by their member local governments, though some states have passed laws granting CoGs region-wide powers over specific functions, and still other states mandate such councils.

Roxanne Qualls is a former Democratic mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, having served from December 1993 to November 1999. She also served a two-year term on the Cincinnati City Council prior to her service as mayor, having been elected in 1991. On August 8, 2007, the Charter Committee announced her appointment to fill the unexpired term of council member Jim Tarbell. Qualls was elected to a two-year term on Cincinnati City Council in November 2007, and again in 2009 and 2011. She served as Vice Mayor, the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, chair of the Livable Communities Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Major Transportation and Infrastructure Projects.

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is an independent, nonprofit association where area leaders address regional issues affecting the District of Columbia, suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia. Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments comprises 24 local governments in the Washington metropolitan area, as well as area members of the Maryland and Virginia state legislatures, the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives. About 300 local, state and federal elected officials make up its membership. It was founded in 1957 and formally incorporated on May 28, 1965.

Metropolitan planning organization

A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorities. They were created to ensure regional cooperation in transportation planning. MPOs were introduced by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, which required the formation of an MPO for any urbanized area (UZA) with a population greater than 50,000. Federal funding for transportation projects and programs are channeled through this planning process. Congress created MPOs in order to ensure that existing and future expenditures of governmental funds for transportation projects and programs are based on a continuing, cooperative, and comprehensive (“3‑C”) planning process. Statewide and metropolitan transportation planning processes are governed by federal law. Transparency through public access to participation in the planning process and electronic publication of plans now is required by federal law. As of 2015, there are 408 MPOs in the United States.

Regional Planning Councils (RPCs) are quasi-governmental organizations that are designated by Florida law to address problems and plan solutions that are of greater-than-local concern or scope, and are to be recognized by local governments as one of the means to provide input into state policy development. With regard to transportation-related issues, RPCs are empowered to provide technical assistance to local governments on growth management matters; coordinate land development and transportation policies in a manner that fosters region-wide transportation systems; review local government comprehensive plan amendments, evaluation/appraisal reports, and Developments of Regional Impacts for consistency with state and regional plans; and, review the plans of independent transportation authorities and metropolitan planning organizations to identify inconsistencies between those plans and applicable local government plans. RPCs are a type of Regional planning organization, specific to the state of Florida.

Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments

TMACOG is the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments, a voluntary organization of dues-paying members. TMACOG members include governmental and non-governmental organizations in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan: cities, counties, villages, and townships, as well as schools and colleges, park districts, businesses, and other groups concerned with quality of life in the region. TMACOG is BOTH a Regional Council and a Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Regional Plan Association

The Regional Plan Association is an independent, not-for-profit regional planning organization, founded in 1922, that focuses on recommendations to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness of a 31-county New York–New Jersey–Connecticut region in the New York metropolitan area. Headquartered in New York City, it has offices in Princeton, New Jersey, and Stamford, Connecticut.

Denver Regional Council of Governments

The Denver Regional Council of Governments is a nonprofit, membership organization of local governments in the Denver region of the State of Colorado. DRCOG is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) and the Transportation Planning Region (TPR) for the region, as well as the Area Agency on Aging (AAA).

Maricopa Association of Governments Council of Governments for greater Phoenix, United States

Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) is a Council of Governments (COG) that serves as the regional agency for the greater Maricopa region in Arizona, USA. This includes the Phoenix area and the neighboring urbanized area in Pinal County, containing the Town of Florence and City of Maricopa. When MAG was formed in 1967, the elected officials recognized the need for long-range planning and policy development on a regional scale. They realized that many issues such as transportation, air quality and human services affected residents beyond the borders of their individual jurisdictions.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is responsible for comprehensive regional transportation planning planning in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry and Will counties in northeastern Illinois. The agency developed and now guides implementation of ON TO 2050, a new long-range plan to help the seven counties and 284 communities of northeastern Illinois implement strategies that address transportation, housing, economic development, open space, the environment, and other quality-of-life issues.

The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) is a metropolitan planning organization that develops policies and makes decisions about transportation planning, economic development, and growth management throughout the four-county Seattle metropolitan area surrounding Puget Sound. It is a forum for cities, towns, counties, transit agencies, port districts, Native American tribes, and state agencies to address regional issues.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) is the metropolitan planning organization for New York City, Long Island, and the lower Hudson Valley. It is a federally mandated planning forum to allow the ten counties it represents to coordinate the use of federal transportation funds. NYMTC was created in 1982 after the disbanding of the Tri-State Regional Planning Commission, a metropolitan planning organization for the states of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Unlike most other Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in the United States, NYMTC's staff are all employees of the New York State Department of Transportation.

An urban planner or an urban planning engineer is a professional who practices in the field of urban planning.

Grand Paris Métropole in Île-de-France, France

The Métropole du Grand Paris is an administrative structure for cooperation covering the City of Paris and its nearest surrounding suburbs. The métropole came into existence on January 1, 2016 and comprises 131 communes, including the City of Paris, all 123 communes in the surrounding inner-suburban departments of the Petite Couronne, plus seven communes in two of the outer-suburban departments, including the communes of Argenteuil in Val-d'Oise, and Paray-Vieille-Poste in Essonne, the latter of which covers part of Orly Airport. Part of the métropole comprised the Seine department, which existed from 1929 to 1968. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometers and has a population of 7 million.

District Department of Transportation

The District Department of Transportation (DDOT) is an agency of the government of the District of Columbia which manages and maintains publicly owned transportation infrastructure in the District of Columbia. DDOT is the lead agency with authority over the planning, design, construction, and maintenance of alleys, bridges, sidewalks, streets, street lights, and traffic signals in the District of Columbia.

Councils of governments in Connecticut are organizations that bring together the chief elected officials and/or professional managers from member municipalities in Connecticut. The bodies are meant to aid coordination among neighboring cities and towns, and between the towns and the state government, on issue including land use, zoning, and transportation. They serve some functions analogous to county governments in other states, but have no independent taxing authority. They also host some intermunicipal services based on the needs and voluntary participation of member or client municipalities. Councils, or COGs, receive funding through membership dues, state grants, and federal grants. Connecticut state law permits Councils of Government to apply for any grant money offered to county governments or their equivalents.

Regional Development Commissions are regional governments in Minnesota made up of a board of local elected officials from counties, cities, schools boards, public interest groups and transit systems that provide cooperation and coordination on broad regional issues. The Regional Development Commissions, commonly abbreviated as RDC, were established by state law in 1969 to provide a variety of governmental assistance to local governments. They are a type of regional planning organization that have responsibility to provide technical assistance to a broad multi-county area of the state, and their functions are similar to the metropolitan planning organization in urbanized areas. As their intent was to support local governments, they frequently provide a coordinating role and generally do not exercise any type of binding authority over local matters.

MetroCOG

The Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments, or MetroCOG, is a planning organization serving six towns and cities in southwest Connecticut, United States. MetroCOG is one of nine councils of governments in Connecticut. MetroCOG also serves as a "host agency" for the Greater Bridgeport and Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization.

References

  1. "Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Chapter 6 Regional Planning". American Planning Association. American Planning Association Press. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  2. "Role of Regional Planning Organizations in Transportation Planning Across Boundaries" (PDF). United States Department of Transportation. United States Department of Transportation Volpe Research Cente. pp. 1–10. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  3. "The Council of Governments". River Council of Governments, Connecticut. River Council of Governments, Connecticut. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  4. "Regional Councils, COGs & MPOs". About NARC. National Association of Regional Councils.