The Central Florida Smart Growth Alliance held its monthly meeting on November 16, 2005, with 41 participants representing stakeholder groups from throughout Central Florida.

Addressing Regional Resolve #6 from the myregion.org Sourcebook, the ultimate goal of the Smart Growth Alliance is to address and recommend regional solutions that can ensure that growth in one county or municipality does not adversely impact another county or municipality.

The SGA was initially formed with representation from the MPO Alliance, myregion.org, and the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. With this meeting, the Alliance has been expanded to include representatives from all parts of the region and all stakeholder areas, including public, private and civic sectors. Commissioner Teresa Jacobs of Orange County and Commissioner Sue Carlson from Brevard County are the co-chairs of the alliance.

As part of the meeting, Shelley Lauten, Project Director for myregion.org made a presentation to the group on the Central Florida Regional Visioning Project that is being initiated by myregion.org, through partnerships with the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the Florida Department of Transportation and the Central Florida MPO Alliance. The project, which would engage input from more than 5,000 citizens across the seven-county region, is currently awaiting final approval and if received, will begin in early 2006. The Smart Growth Alliance would serve as the “steering committee” during the 18-month project. The SGA would review citizen input and work with a technical committee to develop alternative growth scenarios and regional policy recommendations.

The Smart Growth Alliance will meet monthly beginning in January 2006.