The first year of the Sustainable Cities Institute initiative in Fayetteville has been a ringing success and each of the cities represented within the initial award came together for some great brainstorming and to mark the end of the first year of the Home Depot Foundation’s Sustainable Cities Pilot program. Teams from across the nation have been working hard on their program initiatives, but haven’t had an opportunity to assemble as a collective group and learn about parallel efforts in partner cities.  For this reason, city teams were invited to attend an all-team summit at Southface headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

This gathering was an opportunity to bring the city teams together and let each:  tell their story on how they developed their initiatives, report on progress made in achieving program goals and share lessons learned over the course 2011.  It was also nice nice to finally put some names with some faces and further develop professional relationships with sustainability leaders across the nation.

Pilot City finalists Salt Lake City, Utah and Ann Arbor, Michigan and Pilot City winners Charleston, South Carolina and Fayetteville, Arkansas convened with national partners from Southface, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, JP Consulting and the SCI Advisory Board for an all-day intensive conference on January 31st preceded by a meet-and-greet dinner the night before.

The ultimate goal for the City Program is to institutionalize sustainable infrastructure, but cities have different needs and with that, different methods for achieving this goal.  During the conference each team presented an overview of their work during the first year of the Home Depot Foundation grant funding, followed by a Q&A session.

Cities Fayetteville and Ann Arbor presented broader project initiatives focused on land use policy and initiatives, while cities Salt Lake and Charleston presented projects whose efforts were focused on rehabilitation and revitalization on the ground level.  It was interesting to see how many similarities there are between the programs - for example, it was discovered that both Fayetteville and Charleston effectively utilize Energy Corps/Americorps programs in their city initiatives, which is a great lesson for other cities that are looking for ways to get things done for their sustainability goals while simultaneously creating and promoting green economy jobs. Check out www.energycorps.org for more information on this great program.

One big take away from the presentations and Q&A sessions was that each city saw success in institutionalizing sustainability goals by engaging the community.  Community engagement efforts were targeted at creating community buy-in, which in several cases lead to the unexpected formation of community partnerships that helped to garner additional support and solidify sustainability initiatives. 

For example, Ann Arbor is a city with 26 different city plans and 226 correlating goals, resolutions, ordinances and policies, but the City lacks a unified vision of sustainability or a department to encapsulate and implement their plans.  By taking the time to survey city staff and present a list of the 226 goals to city commissioners, they were able to hold a joint commission meeting that aided in reorganizing the 26 city plans into four planning categories.  By engaging city staff and independent commissions in the process of developing these categories, Ann Arbor was able to create buy-in to the reorganization process, which helped streamline the approval process and garner support for using the new categories to form public community forums.

The all-team summit was a very engaging endeavor that was so beneficial for education and networking it left us all wanting more.  Towards the end of the day there were already talks of scheduling another all team summit towards the end of 2012 to reconvene as a national group of sustainably oriented cities. 

This summit highlighted the importance of social equity in achieving sustainability goals.  We recognize that it is only through the support of our partnerships and social networks that we were able to accomplish any of our goals in 2011.  We appreciate the opportunity that Southface provided in hosting the all-team summit and look forward to utilizing the connections we made during the conference to aid in achieving our goals for 2012. 

Written by Dustin Langford & Melissa Terry

Approximately 1300 people came from all over the southern states to attend the annual Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SSAWG) Conference with over 50 urban agriculture enthusiasts from NW Arkansas making the trip. Around 25% of all attendees hailed from the state of Arkansas, increasing visibility and recognition to the natural state’s agricultural infrastructure and network of sustainable growers.

This year we were lucky enough to have SSAWG hold their annual conference in Little Rock, Arkansas - just a few short hours drive south from Fayetteville.  The conference was held January 20th and 21st at the Peabody Hotel with preconference activities taking place on the 18th and 19th.

“Southern SAWG’s mission is to empower and inspire farmers, individuals, and communities in the South to create an agricultural system that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. Because sustainable solutions depend on the involvement of the entire community, Southern SAWG is committed to including all persons in the South without bias.” (Source: www.ssawg.org)

Attendees were offered a diverse grouping of pre-conference field trips, intensive mini-courses, general conference practical sessions and various opportunities to network amongst peers. With so many options for learning and networking provided at the conference, it was often hard to decide what to attend.

Field trips were taken to tour local farms, ranches and gardens like the Heifer Vegetable CSA and Dunbar Middle School Garden.  Mini-courses covered a diverse range of topics from bee keeping to vermiculture to farm finance.  The practical sessions supplied attendees with information on “organic and sustainable production and marketing information for commercial horticultural and livestock producers, enterprise management lessons, farm policy education and community food systems development information.”

The overarching theme for the conference was the priority of sustainable urban agriculture in developing healthy and secure community food systems.  Keynote speaker, Will Allen, supported urban agriculture during a session where he spoke to a packed house about creating and developing Growing Power, “a national nonprofit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds, and the environments in which they live, by helping to provide equal access to healthy, high-quality, safe and affordable food for people in all communities. This mission is implemented by providing hands-on training, on-the-ground demonstration, outreach and technical assistance through the development of Community Food Systems that help people grow, process, market and distribute food in a sustainable manner.”  (Source:  growingpower.org)

Growing Power has several urban farms in neighborhoods in Milwaukee and Chicago as well as other farms in rural settings where it’s more appropriate to raise livestock. Growing Power employes over 100 people and offers 60 internships through their various farm efforts.  Mr. Allen shared that in 2012 Growing Power will be hiring an additional 150 people, more than doubling their current workforce, which is an amazing feat made possible by Mr. Allen’s dedication to paying workers and not bank loans for tractors and farm machinery.

Another highlight of the conference was learning about Arkansas’ participation in the national Food Corps program through the Delta Garden Study (DGS), which measures the impact of school gardens on childhood obesity, school bonding, and academic achievement in middle school children in Arkansas.  Food Corps service members are currently positioned at rural schools in the eastern half of Arkansas to help develop school gardens, implement the DGS educational curriculum, and conduct outreach to local communities.  While the program is currently restricted to the eastern delta region of Arkansas, discussions are taking place to bring the program to NW Arkansas and Fayetteville!

The SSAWG annual conference was a highly successful event that not only provided an inspiring and educational experience, but also served as a rallying point for sustainable agriculture supporters in NWA to unite around common passions, interests and projects occurring in our region.  SSAWG attendees from NWA were motivated to reconvene after the conference for a round table debrief to make introductions and begin discussions about current sustainable agriculture programs and initiatives occurring in the region, of which there are many.

Cultivating a local food system is an exciting emerging story for Fayetteville with all the potential in the world to assist our community in becoming more sustainable.  We are excited to see what the future holds, and how SCI:Fayetteville can be involved in the process of working with organizational partners like Feed Fayetteville to re-establish a local, secure and sustainable food network in our community.

Written by Dustin Langford & Melissa Terry

Cottage Housing Developments are gaining popularity across the U.S. as an effective tool in promoting urban infill within existing neighborhoods. 

This trend is sparked by an increasing demand for small and affordable single-family housing stock by an expanding and diverse demographic. Defined by their smaller than average square footage, Cottage Housing is a development model where higher density, single-family homes are designed in a cluster format and oriented toward a central common open space rather than streets. 

Coordinated design plans and smaller unit sizes allow Cottage Housing Developments to achieve densities that are higher than typical single-family neighborhoods.  These densities are similar to that of attached row housing, but have less impact on connected residential areas due to their smaller building footprints.

Cottage Housing Developments strive to maintain visual and pedestrian relationships with their surroundings by blending into existing neighborhood form and scale and by orienting homes so that windows, doors and porches face human activity on the common green.  This orientation also promotes community interaction and safety. 

Although the average U.S. household size is decreasing, single-family housing still remains the preferred housing type. Cottage Housing Developments offer an alternative housing opportunity that responds to changing household demographics, lifestyles and housing needs.

Cottage Housing provides an affordable, single-family housing environment by maintaining detached units with small private yard space combined with reduced cost and maintenance attributes of attached housing.  

The City of Fayetteville formally adopted a Cottage Housing Ordinance at their December 6, 2011 City Council meeting.  The passage of this ordinance was a proposed action item in the City Plan 2030 update, which was adopted by the City Council in 2011. Specifically, the Cottage Housing Ordinance addresses the following City Plan 2030 goals: 

Goal 1 - We will make appropriate infill and revitalization our highest priorities. 

Goal 2 - We will discourage suburban sprawl. 

Goal 6 - We will create attainable housing. 

Additionally, by allowing the creation of housing lots that are not required to have street frontage, the City is offering a powerful incentive for infill development so long as proposed Cottage Housing Development (CHD) projects meet strict design requirements.  The following is a list of the important standards and regulations: 

• CHD’s are permitted as a use by right in multi-family zoning districts and as conditional use in all single-family zoning districts.
• Review process dependent on the size and scale of the project – small projects processed as Site Improvement Plans – large projects < 1 acre processed as LSD.
• Minimum of 4 Cottage Housing units and a maximum of 12 cottage housing units in a CHD.
• Minimum separation of 1,000 linear feet between CHD’s located in the same neighborhood.
• CHD in Multi-family zoning districts limited to the density of the underlying zoning district – CHD’s in single family zoning districts restricted to no more than two times the underlying density allowed.
• There are no regulations in regard to Lot Width Minimum, Lot Area Minimum and Land Area per Dwelling Unit and the property may be set up by either a condominium or fee simple ownership regime.  
• Building setbacks are set by the underlying zoning district – with the exception that separation requirements in-between structures are a minimum of 10 feet.
• Cottages limited to a maximum of 1,100 sq. ft.
• Cottages shall be oriented towards the street or around a common open space.
• A minimum of 300 sq. ft. of common open space and 250 sq. ft. of private open space is required for each cottage.
• Adequate and appropriate parking shall be provided for each cottage.
• Fire Department access is required for all structures – Sprinkler systems are required for cottages located 150 ft. or greater form the designated Fire Dept. access area.
• All CHD’s are required to obtain a drainage permit and perform any drainage study’s or detention requirements according to UDC Ch. 170: Stormwater Management, Drainage and Erosion Control.
• Solid Waste service should primarily be residential in nature (trash carts and recycling bins), exceptions may be allowed for CHD’s located in primarily commercial areas of the City.
• Architectural standards apply to all structures within a CHD in order to ensure quality design and compatibility with the surrounding neighborhood.

The adoption of the Cottage Housing Ordinance is a major step forward for the City of Fayetteville in achieving its City Plan 2030 goals.  This ordinance is also beneficial to our SCI:Fayetteville affordable housing project, Houses at Willow Bend, as it allows Cottage Housing units to be incorporated into the Master Plan.  Utilizing Cottage Housing in the design of Willow Bend allows the development to achieve a higher density of units and a greater diversity of housing types for target residents to choose from.

Willow Bend is currently in Phase II of its schedule, which includes the production of the site Master Plan and a presentation to the neighbors in the Walker Park Neighborhood. 

Community by Design (CBD), Willow Bend’s design consultant, has been working steadily on the site design with much to show for their efforts.  Three conceptual site plans have been produced for the Willow Bend site.  By weighing the opportunities and constraints of each plan, CBD has been able to merge the best ideas into a fourth and final concept plan, which will be the working foundation for the Master Plan.  These conceptual plans can be viewed on the SCI:Fayetteville public Wiki site here.

 The passage of the Cottage Housing Ordinance is one of three progressive planning policies that have been passed by the Fayetteville City Council in current Fayetteville Mayor, Lioneld Jordan’s term.  The other two ordinances (Low Impact Development and Stream Side Protection) are also pivotal in the evolution of sustainable community development in Fayetteville.

Written by Dustin Langford, Leif Olson & Melissa Terry

Image source: http://pocket-neighborhoods.net

On October 24th the City of Fayetteville Engineering Division and FTN Associates held a kick-off meeting to begin work on the new Low Impact Development (LID) section of the City’s Drainage Criteria Manual. 

The meeting took the format of an input session where stakeholders were invited to give feedback on what they saw as key concerns with the current Drainage Manual and their desires for the new manual.

Twenty people were present including City staff, FTN project team representatives and several local contractors, developers and designers.  The meeting was informal by nature with City staff leading an open discussion amongst peers and taking detailed notes on the key points of discussion to be referenced by the City and FTN as they begin their work on developing the new Drainage Manual.

The discussion proved to be very productive and covered several topics.  A few highlights are listed below.  Please be advised that these are the concerns/desires expressed by the stakeholders who attended the meeting and don’t necessarily reflect the final content of the manual.

Planning

• The City’s 2030 plan encourages infill and discourages sprawl.  The new Manual should be consistent with encouraging infill and discouraging sprawl.
• The Manual should encourage a transect-based approach to design.

Site Planning

• Developers should get credit for not stripping a site of vegetation and topsoil.
• The new Manual should count trees towards stormwater mitigation and account for newly planted trees maturing over time.

LID Elements

• The Manual needs to encourage disconnected impervious areas as a good design tool to maximize sheet flow over pervious areas and ground infiltration.
• The Manual could recommend a specific ratio for amended soils and how to prevent compacting amended soils during construction.
• Simple details that are easy to use and are more likely to be cost effective would be beneficial.
• The cost of implementing LID design components compared to standard stormwater management is a major concern.

Constrained Sites

• Flexibility or an altogether different set of criteria is needed for smaller infill sites that have easement or right-of-way constraints.

Construction

• The higher level of construction observation required for LID components increases short-term costs.
• Who will be overseeing and certifying the LID components during and after construction?
• Enforcement at construction sites, by the City, could help ensure that LID systems are installed correctly.

Administrative Process

• The Manual should be clear on the process for variances and administratively approved changes.
• Providing more flexibility in the new manual than the current manual will ensure that the best solution can be reached.

All of the issues/concerns/desires addressed by the stakeholders at this initial meeting should prove beneficial for the City and FTN as they move forward in their effort to produce a new Drainage Criteria Manual, one that’s rooted in lessons learned from past experience and that plans for the future.

As part of the ongoing process in developing the new Drainage Criteria Manual, the City and FTN will be distributing draft copies to the stakeholders present at the first meeting (and any others, upon request) via email to get feedback on its effectiveness. 

Our partners in leadership with The Houses at Willow Bend have been designing to be a demonstration site for the LID section of the new Manual since the beginning of the SCI: Fayetteville Pilot City Program.  To assist PfBH and CBD in their effort to incorporate LID into the Willow Bend site design, the City and FTN have committed to produce a draft of the LID chapter first.

We look forward to seeing this first draft on December 19th and the feedback it generates from the stakeholders about how the LID protocol will be demonstrated within the Willow Bend Site Plan.  The new Drainage Manual and LID chapter have been in the works for some time now and it’s exciting time to be in Fayetteville as we see final products starting to come to fruition.

Written by Dustin Langford & Melissa Terry

The word replicable means to possess the ability to be duplicated, copied, reproduced or repeated.  As a SCI Pilot City, Fayetteville is dedicated to ensuring that all of our projects are not only sustainable, but also replicable for those who come after us.

One way to achieve our replicability goal for the Houses at Willow Bend is to pursue a green development certification from a third party verification program.  These programs establish criteria that all projects applying for certification must meet.  Administering standard criteria that can be applied to multiple and varying projects promotes replicability.

It is the opinion of our Fayetteville Advisory Board that attaining a third party verification certificate is a confirmed method for producing a replicable project as well as publicly demonstrating that sustainability goals for Willow Bend have been accomplished. 

Three target areas we are focused on achieving and providing replicable models are:

• Perpetual Affordability for multiple generations of homeowners;
• Energy Efficiency of the homes so that they are not only for sale at an attainable price point but are also affordable residences in which to dwell;
• Low-Impact Development is only a concept until it’s applied…the Houses at Willow Bend is a perfect test case for the City of Fayetteville’s recentlyapproved Low-Impact Development ordinance.

In order to determine the best fit for Willow Bend, a thorough analysis of potential verification programs was conducted by a Partners for Better Housing board member (Laura Chioldi) and our SCI Project Assistant (Dustin Langford).

Laura and Dustin were asked to look at four potential programs and analyze them based on their merits and drawbacks and make a recommendation to the PfBH Development Committee on which certification was most suitable for the Willow Bend Project to pursue.

The four programs analyzed were:

• LEED for Neighborhood Development
• NAHB for Land Development
• EarthCraft Communities
• Enterprise Green Communities

Below are brief summaries of the analysis of each verification program.  These summaries are the opinions of the two volunteer analysts and apply solely to their application to the Willow Bend site.  These summaries are excerpts from a more complete analysis document that can be found here.

LEED ND

LEED ND (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development) is probably the most well-known and well-utilized program.  It was co-developed by the US Green Building Council, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Congress for New Urbanism and has been used as a foundation for several other sustainable rating systems including the other programs analyzed here.

The program is based on a point system divided into three main categories:  Smart Location and Linkage, Neighborhood Pattern & Design, and Green Infrastructure & Buildings.  There are four levels of certification, based on points earned.

LEED ND takes a broad approach to neighborhood development with a strong focus on transportation and regional connectivity.  This emphasis on Smart Growth aligns well for infill development in dense urban areas, but doesn’t align well for the Willow Bend project, as it would probably not be able to achieve all of the prerequisite points for smart location, compact development, mixed use and walkable streets due to site constraints.

LEED ND can also be quite costly and time consuming as it requires a significant amount of paper work that can demand using an outside consultant to complete.  This isn’t advantageous for PfBH, a non-profit developer run by volunteers.

NAHB Land Development

This program is heavily based on the foundation of LEED ND, but is designed for projects that can occur in a variety of locations – urban to rural, flat to rolling terrain – as well as a variety of housing types and markets.  This aligns better with the Willow Bend scope of work as it consists of only single-family detached housing, no mixed use, as per the surrounding neighbors request.

The program criteria include categories for site planning that respects local landscape and topography with allowances for street patterns that minimize grading, excavation and disrupting steep slopes.  This aligns well with Willow Bend’s vision and goals and accommodates for many of the site constraints as well.

Overall this certification was a better fit for Willow Bend than LEED ND with the biggest disadvantage coming from the additional cost attaining the certification entails.

EarthCraft Communities

The EarthCraft certification program is intended to “assist land developers and local government agencies to create sustainable, market-rate and affordable housing communities.”  The criteria focus on low impact development, walkable design & community connectivity, transit-ready density, storm water management, and access to open space.

These criteria align well with the vision and goals of Willow Bend and allow for projects to follow an urban grid design or a conservation cluster design.  This system does not incorporate differing levels of certification; a development is either certified or not.  This simplified format was attractive to PfBH as it would require less paperwork while eliminating some of the confusion multitier systems can create.

PfBH was impressed with EarthCraft’s commitment to Community Engagement, dedicating an entire point category to the topic, as well as the amount of administrative assistance provided by means of regular site visits, facilitating charrettes and trainings for residents, property managers, builders & realtors.

EarthCraft was seen as a nice fit for the Willow Bend project with few drawbacks.  Had it not been for the last program analyzed, EarthCraft would have been the most appropriate choice.

Enterprise Green Communities

The Enterprise Foundation has over 25 years of experience with green homes and affordable communities.  Their Green Communities site verification program has been around since 2004 and like the other programs researched by PfBH, has strong roots in LEED ND.

The Green Communities criteria focus on using environmentally sustainable materials, reduction of negative environmental impacts, increased energy efficiency, designs and materials that safeguard residents health, and smart locations providing access to services and public transportation.  All criteria align well with the Willow Bend scope of work, vision and goals.

The biggest difference between Enterprise and the other programs is that Enterprise is restricted to affordable housing projects only.  In order to be accepted into the program, 80% of the project’s total housing must meet Enterprise’s definition of affordable housing, which is consistent with Willow Bend’s own definition of affordable housing.

Once accepted into the program, the Enterprise Foundation covers all certification fees, which is a great benefit for PfBH.  The certification process is a simple two-step process.  The first step is to fill out an on-line application that can be completed without outside consultation prior to construction.  The second step is a site visit to verify the project after construction. 

Furthermore, Enterprise does not have multiple levels of certification.  Like EarthCraft, projects are either certified or not, which presumably makes the system simpler and easier to navigate.

This ease of application is very appealing since it doesn’t require any additional fees or consulting services that could prove prohibitive to a non-profit run by volunteers, like PfBH.  Though the waiver of certification fees is a big advantage of Enterprise, PfBH feel like the program is the best fit for Willow Bend regardless of the cost.

While Willow Bend as a green infill site meets many of the criteria for smart location mandated by the other programs reviewed, it does have some unchangeable site restrictions that prevent it from achieving the full level required by systems like LEED ND.

Enterprise Green Communities criteria focuses more on the project site rather than the broader regional issues and connectivity consistent with some of the other programs.  These topics are in no way ignored by Enterprise; simply, the system takes into account varying project site locations.

What’s Next?

The analysis of the four third party certification options and the resulting recommendation to pursue Enterprise was presented in full to the PfBH Development Committee, who gave their support to bring it before the full PfBH Board.  The Board voted to pass a resolution in full support of pursuing an Enterprise Certification and asked Dustin and Laura to continue volunteering their time to further evaluate the Enterprise Criteria and begin the online application form, to which they both agreed.

PfBH has asked their project contractor, Community by Design, to evaluate the Enterprise Criteria to determine if there is any additional work created through the application process not specified in PfBH/CBD contract.  With SCI project staff and P4BH board members willing  to do most of the work involved in applying for the certification, hopefully this will not be a concern and not an add cost.

As far as moving forward on pursuing Enterprise Certification, the first step in the process is to call a project team meeting consisting of the client, contractors, designers and engineers to establish a plan demonstrating how the team will achieve certification.

We look forward to the kick off of this meeting and are eager to utilize the structure a third party verification program provides in planning and constructing our affordable housing project.

The Sustainable Cities Institute brought the Implementing Sustainable Development in Your Community - Workshops for Local Public Officials to Fayetteville on September 20th.  Facilitated by the Urban Land Institute, this workshop was an all-day, intensive learning session for city/regional officials and other community stakeholders seeking to foster:

• Leadership in a regional context
• Integrated problem solving strategies
• Public/private collaboration
• Peer-to-peer learning

The workshop was offered through the ULI’s Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use whose mission is “… to encourage and support excellence in decision making by providing public officials with access to information, best practices, peer networks and other resources.  The Rose Center seeks to foster creative, efficient, practical and sustainable land use policies.”

The Fayetteville workshop kicked off early on a Tuesday morning with an inspiring introduction to sustainable land use by Senior ULI Resident Fellow, Ed McMahon. The first and primary goal of any discussion about sustainability is defining what that means and why it’s important and our 50 workshop attendees heard Mr. McMahon really pin down the importance of sustainable planning in the present and how it relates to the major topics of Climate Change, Energy, Infrastructure, Population Growth, Land Use and Global Competition. 

 According to Mr. McMahon the most important key to successful planning is a shared vision as a starting point…what does the planning process hope to achieve?   

• Consistent long-term implementation
• Long-term capital planning
• New tools and incentives
• Education and collaboration
• Public-private partnerships

From there the workshop got down to business as Kathy Blaha, President of Kathy Blaha Consulting, spoke about the role of local government in creating and implementing sustainability plans.  Ms. Blaha segued from Mr. McMahon’s introduction by drilling down into specific detail on how local government policies shape sustainable development by:

• Developing a shared community vision
• Shaping value oriented development with policy and plans
• Supporting regional leadership
• Establishing effective public-private cooperation
• Changing municipal operations
• Measuring progress

After lunch, a panel of local speakers discussed some of the current initiatives underway in NW Arkansas regarding sustainable development and long-range planning.

Steve Luoni, from the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, spoke about the importance of storm water management and their work creating a Low Impact Development Manual Design Guide, a booklet whose merits just earned an ASLA award.

Jeremy Pate, City of Fayetteville Development Services Director, spoke about his experiences working to implement sustainable policy on a municipal level.

Jake Newell and Todd Jacobs, from Jacobs + Newell Company, spoke about their experiences in the green construction industry and how they’ve successfully carved out a niche for building, marketing and selling green homes in an extremely tight local housing market.

After the panel, the focus shifted towards exploring the various resources that can be influenced by the Public Sector like:

• Site selection/land use
• Transportation
• Energy
• Water
• Materials & waste
• Impacts on carbon

Of particular interest was a link Ms. Blaha drew between land use, community behavior and resource consumption and how by simply being selective on where we build we can achieve sustainability goals across the board.

Mr. McMahon concluded the workshop and opened the floor up for a lively discussion amongst the meeting attendees.

It’s quite apparent that Northwest Arkansas has tremendous potential to work together as a region to create sustainable communities that benefit us all.  Obviously, this requires dedication and cooperation to bring about the changes necessary to achieve our sustainability goals.  If we had to put the entire workshop in a nutshell, workshop attendees took away from our day a clear message that the longevity of sustainable communities begins with GREAT planning, teamwork and a passion for creating enduring policies that benefit our communities now and for generations to come.

Our sincere thanks goes out to the ULI Rose Center and SCI for putting this workshop together and bringing it to Fayetteville.  The workshop created a lot of great follow-up conversations within the community and we’ve received nothing but positive feedback from the attendees.  We really appreciate the opportunity  to interact with and learn from talented and professional staff of the Urban Land Institute and Kathy Blaha...your time here was well spent!

Contributed by Dustin W. Langford & Melissa Terry