Tampa Bay RPC Hosts 25th Annual Future of the Region Awards
For the past 25 years the Tampa Bay RPC has hosted the annual spring awards event to honor innovative planning and to recognize notable achievement in resource planning and management in the six-county region comprised of Citrus, Hernando, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco and Pinellas counties. The Council’s mission in recognizing excellence is to encourage future vision and cooperation within the community. The two highest honors of the competition include the The Herman Goldner Award for Regional Leadership and The One Bay McIntosh Award of Distinction. Twenty-eight applications were received this year in five separate categories.
The Herman Goldner Award for Regional Leadership is presented to an individual who exemplifies the spirit of regional cooperation, dedication to his/her community and notable achievement in encouraging future vision and was awarded this year to Ms. Barbara Sheen Todd, Gubernatorial Appointee and former Pinellas County Commissioner for her leadership and support of regional planning councils.
The One Bay McIntosh Award of Distinction is awarded to the applicant that provides excellence in the region, exhibits distinction in regional “visioning” and supports One Bay’s Guiding Principles which include:
-
-
-
- Creating a sense of place
- Maximizing multi-modal transportation
- Preserving natural systems
- Balancing jobs & housing
- Strengthening economic development
- Sustaining the role of agriculture
-
-
The One Bay McIntosh Award was presented to the Tampa International Airport, Legacy of Environmental Actions for the Future (LEAF). For a complete listing of winners and participants, or for further information contact Wren Krahl at wren@tbrpc.org
Treasure Coast RPC Hosts Full-Scale Exercise
The West Florida Regional Planning Council, Apalachee Regional Planning Council, University of West Florida, Northwest Florida Forward, Northwest Florida League of Cities, and Florida’s Great Northwest invited elected officials and community stakeholders from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Holmes, Washington, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Jefferson, Liberty, Leon, and Wakulla counties to an informational update and interactive planning workshop pertaining to regional priority identification and collaboration efforts. Sparked by questions about the Deepwater Horizon (BP) oil spill funds, or Triumph, WFRPC hosted a previous meeting with the City of Destin, who subsequently offered the use of their community center to facilitate a similar discussion on a regional scale.
More than 100 attendees filled the Destin Community Center on May 17 as State Representative Mel Ponder opened the evening with special remarks. WFRPC Executive Director, Austin Mount and WFRPC RESTORE Coordinator, Bill Williams then provided an update on RESTORE and Triumph funds, and facilitated a discussion to identify infrastructure priorities throughout northwest Florida. Attendees engaged in discussion regarding a variety of regional infrastructure needs, identifying, via vote, their top three areas of focus: Transportation (254 votes), specifically major arterial routes (36 votes); Environment (192 votes), specifically stormwater (which ranked higher than any subcategory at 64 votes); and Quality of Place (116 votes), specifically underground utilities (34 votes) and wastewater (32 votes).
The partners will continue to host meetings to provide updates and identify trends and common goals, allowing a unified regional voice to foster leverage in future endeavors and potential funding opportunities. Please visit this webpage for updates.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
