Last week, the Center for Livable Communities (CLC) made a strong case for regional collaboration.
At its Third Annual Summit for Neighborhood Leaders, the CLC focused on the connection between neighborhoods and the overall region with keynote speaker Bridget Jones, executive director of Middle Tennessee/Nashville’s Cumberland Region Tomorrow.
Cumberland Region Tomorrow encourages growth planning in a 10-county area in Middle Tennessee.
“Look at where your neighborhood fits in the spectrum,” Jones said. “See what you’ve got and what you need.”
CLC consultant John Lawrence and Josh Whitehead, head of planning for the city of Germantown, presented some disquieting data on population, sprawl, and retail growth.
[Side note: This week, in our paper product, I used some of their data in a piece about that Holy Grail of redevelopment — RETAIL — and asked if maybe it isn’t something of a shell game, especially in Memphis.
Whitehead suggested that the different area jurisdictions have overzoned for commercial development because they are hungry for the sales tax it brings. “What you have is way too much retail space,” he said. “Bringing up tax sharing is probably worse than consolidation, but it helps to address constant sprawl.”]
