 Hi, I'm John Fellowes, Planning Minister here with the City of Columbia. And I'm Lee Deforth, the City of Columbia's Comprehensive Planner. Today we'd like to talk to you a little bit about Columbia Compass in Vision 2036, the process for updating the City's Comprehensive Plan. So, what is a Comprehensive Plan anyway, and why do we need one? Let's call it a COMP plan for short. Local governments develop COMP plans because by doing so, they establish a long-range vision for their community. That vision helps determine policy, program, and infrastructure goals for the local government to tackle in the coming years. In South Carolina, we are required to update our plans at least every 10 years through a formal process. So, why aren't we just calling it Columbia's 10-year COMP plan instead of Columbia Compass in Vision 2036? Well, as we're getting ready to celebrate 250 years of Columbia in 2036, we thought it would be a helpful image. Surveyors use compasses to lay out the original grid of the city, and a compass can also serve as a tool to help us navigate our future. And the InVision relates it back to Council's strategic planning process, which is a short-term plan. Exactly. South Carolina also requires that Comprehensive Plans include nine elements. Population is about demographics, who we are as a city, how we will grow, age, and diversify. By identifying and better understanding our natural resources, such as the quality of our waterways and our urban tree canopy, we can better understand how to conserve, protect, or improve upon them in the years to come. With land use, we talk about how the city looks at density, scale, and context, what types of uses are appropriate, and why. Transportation is about mobility. Mobility of people, whether they are in their cars, on the sidewalk, on the bus, on a bike, or hauling freight. How we navigate our city helps define how Columbia looks and feels. The housing element examines the market for rental and owned housing. It considers different sizes and types of housing, and what gaps we should work to fill as a community. We all rely on community facilities, from utilities and emergency services, to parks and educational facilities. How we plan for these services over the next ten years is vital to the heartbeat of Columbia. Columbia is a city steeped in culture from historic structures and fine arts to engaged artists and art educators. The Amplifly Columbia planning process will help define the cultural resource element. When we talk about economic development, we are talking about how we can encourage a diverse, resilient, and vibrant economy, which not only attracts employers, but also employees. Is there any one element more important than the other? Well, we recognize that these elements are all interrelated. For example, making our city more walkable and inviting to residents and visitors could fall under transportation, economic development, land use, housing, you name it. And access to community facilities like parks and schools could both determine the market for housing and economic development opportunities. So we should just think of these elements as chapters in a book then. What about priority investment? If the elements are chapters that tell the story of our vision for Columbia, priority investment would be the conclusion. It is the element that helps the city choose and move forward those programs, policies, and projects that help us realize our vision for Columbia. Let's talk a little bit about this process moving forward. Sure, the project team has already started with research and reaching out to folks, but there will be three sets of opportunities for in-person public input during the planning process and will also have opportunities to engage through surveys, et cetera, in between meetings. The October meetings are the first set of meetings and where we hope to better understand your vision for Columbia. We'll hold another set of public meetings in early 2019 where we bring back preliminary recommendations and ask for your input. Then we put pen to paper and develop a draft. Once the draft is ready, we expect to have a third set of public meetings in late spring of 2019. There is also a formal process for the plan to be adopted by the city. After the third set of public meetings, the city's planning commission will review and make a recommendation of the plan to council. Council will then hold a public hearing before voting to adopt the plan. So what do we want from you? We want you to help us define our shared vision for Columbia. You can do this a number of ways. We'll be holding public meetings. There will be online surveys. You can follow our website and social media accounts. And we're happy to come talk to your neighborhood or organization. Just get in touch with us at Columbia Compass at columbiasc.gov.