1. Piedmont Triad Sustainable
Communities Project
Choices Opportunities Solutions
Jobs, Housing and Transportation
First Year Progress Report

2. Background
• 1.6 M from HUD
• 3 yr effort
• PART & PTRC lead agencies
• 37 Consortium Members
• Why?

3. What is the project about?
A planning effort to integrate housing, land use,
economic and workforce development,
transportation, and infrastructure investments in a
manner that empowers jurisdictions to consider the
interdependent challenges of…
• economic competitiveness and revitalization,
• social equity, inclusion and access to opportunity,
• energy use and climate adaption, and
• public health and environment impact.

4. Consortium Members • Winston-Salem Urban Area MPO
• City-County Planning Board
• Town Of Oak Ridge (Winston-Salem/Forsyth County)
• North Carolina Department of Transportation • Forsyth Futures
• YMCA of Northwest North Carolina • Forsyth County
• Center for New North Carolinians • Southwest High Point Renewal Project
• Davidson County Planning Department • City of Winston-Salem
• North Carolina Department of Environment and • Greensboro Urban Area MPO
Natural Resources • City of High Point
• Town of Kernersville • Greensboro Housing Coalition
• Rockingham County Planning Department • Center for Design Innovation
• Housing Authority of Winston-Salem • Town of Pleasant Garden
• North Carolina Department of Commerce • Town of Cooleemee
• North Carolina Center for Global Logistics • Piedmont Conservation Council
• Piedmont Triad Rural Planning Organization • City of Lexington
• Northwest Piedmont Rural Planning Organization • Village of Clemmons
• Winston-Salem State University • Transition Greensboro
• City of Burlington • City of Asheboro
• City of Greensboro • Town of Lewisville
• Town of Walnut Cove

6. Strengths and Challenges
Top Five Strengths Top Five Challenges
• Education – grades K-12 and • Transportation – both internal to
higher education their communities and regionally
• Farming and Viticulture • Participating in the “New”
Economy – post-manufacturing,
• Health Care high tech companies
• Scenic and Recreational • Abandoned Mills and
Resources Employment Centers – especially
• Small Town Charm unused manufacturing plants and
strip shopping centers
• Capitalizing and Supporting on
Existing Business Assets –
especially small businesses
• Healthy Design – planning and
building communities with more
transportation options, improved
public spaces, and better access
to fresh food.

7. Majors themes
• Challenges will require solutions that are regional in nature
because they depend on linking transportation and land-use.
• Forum participants clearly valued the unique character of their
own communities, and cited the importance of retaining small
town charm.
• Forum participants cited the lack of healthy community design as a
significant challenge in the Triad.
• While it was the mill-centered, self-sufficiency of the small towns
and the three cities that historically defined the Triad, it is their
collective connection to a larger network of services and
opportunities that will characterize the region’s future.

8. What have we learned?
• Lost more than 150K manufacturing jobs in past 20 years.
• Transportation costs exceeding housing costs for many residents.
• Few transportation and housing choices in many locations.
• Limited access to healthy foods & open space for many residents.
• Our Challenges as stated in the Civic Forums:
– Lack of transportation options
– Living in the new economy
– Abandoned job centers
– Lack of sidewalks & bike lanes
• The new economy is creating jobs but different job skills are
required. Economic connections very different from traditional
ones. New job centers are spread out. Use of existing
manufacturing facilities is limited.
• While desired by a growing number of people, the creation of
walkable places that include housing, jobs, services and
entertainment is not a priority.

9. Shaping our Future
“We are proud of our region’s heritage – working together to create and build things of value. In the past we
were linked together by the crops we grew, our land’s natural resources, and the commodities we produced
with crops and resources through the manufacture of furniture, textiles and tobacco products. These efforts
knitted us together as a regional community, connected our cities and towns – providing the means to raise our
families and to proposer. The Piedmont Triad was the economic engine for the state, while Charlotte prospered
as a financial center and Raleigh served as the seat of State government.
As a region of mill towns, large and small, we have struggled economically over the past several decades.
Hundreds of plant closings and tens of thousands of job losses throughout our region have broken many of the
ties that bound us together in times of prosperity.
We have now undertaken a hopeful process to re-connect and re-envision who we are and what we can become
as a region. The connections will not be the same. The region is a different place and the challenges different.
Please add your voice to the Piedmont Triad’s renaissance. Join in our regional conversation. Help us recapture
the best of our past and present and to build a future of promise and prosperity for our children’s children.”

10. Raising Awareness and Public Engagement
Project Website (triadsustainability.org) 13 Civic Forums
Views: 604 February, 872 March, 928 April 248 people attended across the region,
200+ ideas generated
Piedmont Voice (piedmontvoice.org)
136 Participants, 282 Ideas, 61 Comments “Grassroots” Outreach
Over 500 contacts
Facebook
(facebook.com/triadsustainability) Realtor Smart Growth Workshop
134 Likes with Forsyth Co. Realtor Assc. 35 persons
attended
Twitter (twitter.com/triadsustainability)
161 Followers Local Design and Development Plans
Asheboro complete, more being planned
Email List
554 Contacts Photo contest
57 photos submitted by 23 photographers
Numerous civic and community
presentations reaching 600 person

11. Local Design & Development Plans
The Asheboro Experience
Day One – The group learned about what
makes a sustainable community and
explored the Strengths and Weaknesses of
Asheboro’s downtown.
Day Two – The group focused on three
elements of downtown: being green,
accessibility and defining gaps in retail,
housing and entertainment.
Two ideas stood out from the design and
development work:
1. Adaptive reuse of the Acme-McCrary
Plant into retail, offices and
downtown housing.
2. The potential to create a linear
pedestrian stroll way with Memorial
Park as its focal point.

12. Next Six Months
• Plan and begin work on 2nd Milestone
– Begin Regional Vision and Scenario Modeling effort
• Plans and Studies
– Comprehensive Economic Development Study
– Plugin Electric Vehicle Regional Infrastructure Study
– Fair Housing Assessment
– Housing Market Analysis
– Development Ordinance Review
• Raising Awareness
– Local Design and Development Plans
– Rebranding project
– New content on Piedmont Voice
– Regional Summit
• Administration
– Initiate Implementation Work Group

13. How you can help?