Planning & Environmental Services

Planning for growth and addressing challenging environmental issues requires collaborative partnerships with government and community leaders. Innovative solutions must be crafted and successful plans need to be implemented. We can help you effectively develop and implement a vision. We can partner with you in addressing unique community challenges. Your community can achieve workable solutions to the challenges you face.

Testimonial

"...Staff were extremely cordial, timely, and professional in assisting the ORGC. The generous contribution by the CVIOG and UGA to the furtherance of the Oconee Rivers Greenway is very much appreciated."

Nat Kuykendall, Chair, Oconee Rivers Greenway Commission

Planning & Environmental services:

The Renaissance Strategic Visioning and Planning Process (RSVP)

The Downtown Renaissance Strategic Visioning and Planning Process assists downtowns through the creation of a community-supported vision, plan, and implementation program. The RSVP is both a downtown master planning process and a downtown planning document that illustrates the community’s vision for the future and provides the steps to get there. Driven by a robust public input process that seeks the participation of all community members, RSVPs help local governments and community partners prioritize top downtown issues and work to establish a consensus around what must be achieved in the short and long-term.

Community Design & Placemaking

Placemaking is a people-centered approach to the planning, design, and use of public spaces. Placemaking is creating interesting, people-oriented destinations with a variety of uses and for a variety of audiences. Placemaking capitalizes on a community's assets, inspiration, and potential to create a vision of public spaces that promote health, happiness, and well-being. Supported by an implementation plan, the vison includes small-scale, simple improvements that can immediately bring benefits to public spaces and the people who use them to long-term goals for significant community enhancements.

Downtown Development

People and businesses are once again relocating into downtowns. Businesses that locate in downtowns generate jobs and contribute to a significant part of the tax base. The goal of downtown development is to create a vibrant downtown that has people doing activities everyday throughout the day and evening.

Master Planning & Visioning

Visioning is often done in conjunction with a master planning project and looks ten to thirty years into the future. Visioning allows communities to visualize their future by conceptually thinking and illustrating farther ahead than state planning mandates require and brings the community together to consider opportunities and issues.

Land Use & Zoning

Land use planning links the local vision for the community with the recognized best practices that will shape future development.

Community Branding

Every community is unique and has a story to tell. Having a brand that accurately represents your competitive strengths can impact everything—from community pride, to marketing, promotion and economic development. The University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government began offering Community Branding services in September 2018 to meet the rising demands of client communities statewide who were asking for branding and design assistance. Community Branding has become an increasingly important tool to help Georgia communities set themselves apart from the competition and attract target markets.

Environmental Planning & Natural Resource Planning

Environmental and natural resource planning uses balanced decision making that takes the natural environment into consideration. Environmental and natural resource planning combines protection of environmental resources with community goals. These community goals could include economic development, improved government efficiency and enhanced quality of life.

Flood & Hazard Resilience

While flooding is a natural event, damage from flooding reflects where and how we build more than the natural event. Our work focuses on helping Georgia communities build resilience to these events to reduce damages.

Policy Analysis

Managing and protecting environmental and natural resources requires designing policies to meet a variety of goals and balance competing perspectives.

Consensus Building/Dialogue/Public Participation

Balancing competing perspectives is inherent in issues involving environmental and natural resource management and protection. Collaboration, consensus building, dialogue and public participation are critical to developing effective solutions that are understood and embraced by the community.