This paper summarizes the history of the development and evolution of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtables from their inception in 2005 to the 7th event in 2010. This effort has led to the development of a Mind-Atlantic Regional Planning Learning Network Program History, Goals and Objectives

1. Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division – American Planning Association
Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable
Program History, Goals and Objectives
February1, 2011
Tom Christoffel, AICP, Steering Committee Chair – 2010
History
On October 21, 2005 - Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC) and
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) sponsored the first Mid-Atlantic
regional planning roundtable at the Lord Fairfax Community College, Middletown, Virginia. The
concept emerged in response to the presentation by planner Paul DesJardin of the MWCOG 2030
growth projections to the Regional Commission on May 19, 2005. Commissioners recognized the
implication that the Northern Shenandoah Valley and other adjoining regions were seen to
provide an ever expanding workforce to the Metro Washington region, increasing the role of a
bedroom community. This led the Commission to adopt a resolution authorizing staff to set up
such a meeting. The Community College President offered the use of their facilities and
MWCOG agreed to cover meal costs.
The author, NSVRC regional planner Tom Christoffel, AICP, organized the initial conference
with a “transportation coordination” focus, since long distance commuting was a NSV concern.
Perspectives were provided by representatives of regional councils and state agencies. National
Association of Regional Councils (NARC) and National Association of Development
Organizations (NADO) staff attended and served as recorders. Non-metro regions and those with
a small metro reported similar concerns about the housing cost and population growth impact
since 9/11. These regions were concerned about an expectation to continue to supply labor and
affordable housing for the large metros for the next 25 years, when they already had local labor
shortages exacerbated by growing housing costs.
A list of multi-regional topics was developed and a second roundtable proposed for January 20,
2006 in Washington, D.C. The list of topics follows:
• Multi-State Transportation Corridors - 9/340/I-81/270/I-95
• Hazard mitigation
• Metro Evacuation
• Homeland Security
• Air Quality
• Water - ground and surface (ICPRB)
• Vision/Scenario/Alternatives (from a local region process related to those in other
regions)
• Infrastructure
• Broadband
• Regional Policy
• No new bypasses in metro region puts more pressure on existing roads.
• Freight & Multi-modal/multi-state freight/rail and ports
• Labor chain - everyone imports labor from outside their region - no surplus of labor
even at the fringes
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2. The second and third roundtables were held in Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland
respectively. NARC, NADO and AMPO (Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations)
agreed to be the co-sponsors for food costs in order for there to be no registration fee. This
simplified event management and improved attendance, since most participants had travel costs.
Through the work of then Division Chair, Lee Schoenecker, AICP, the Regional and
Intergovernmental Planning Division of the American Planning Association (APA) began to take
part.
Long term sponsorship of a Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable would involve not only
regional councils and their localities, but state and federal agency planners. NARC, NADO and
AMPO, as organizations relating to regional councils and MPOs (Metropolitan Planning
Organizations) were very important in giving the Roundtables momentum by funding Roundtable
2 and assisting on Roundtable 3. They found clear benefit in the Roundtables, and have continued
to participate, however, it was not their primary mission to sponsor geographic-specific
interregional regional planning roundtables on a long term basis.
Therefore, starting with the 2007 Roundtable and up through the present, Tom Christoffel and
Lee Schoenecker, members of the APA Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division,
developed a strong working relationship for the Division to serve as the sponsor and the lead
organizer for the ensuing Roundtables. Further, they were fortunate in being able to secure strong
host agency relationships in subsequent Roundtables.
For the fourth Roundtable in 2007, the location was Fredericksburg, Virginia, hosted by the
George Washington Regional Commission. Bob Wilson, AICP, Executive Director and Kevin
Byrnes, AICP, regional planner, arranged for Mary Washington University to provide the site and
cover meal costs.
Governor Parris Glendenning, a national advocate for Smart Growth America, served as the
keynote speaker for the event. He explained that, to achieve smart growth outcomes, the regional
level needed to be taken into account and used.
Presentations from the University of Mary Washington Geography Department and George
Mason University, School of Public Policy, Center for Regional Analysis demonstrated the work
of the academic community in regional analysis. The fact that there was no mechanism for
coordination or orchestration of University research in local regions or across the Mid-Atlantic
States for use by practitioners and public officials, stood out as a potential resource and benefit of
future roundtable collaborations.
The Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division of APA and State Chapters now work
with Regional Councils for the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable as a model for the
U.S. A Mid-Atlantic states planning analysis was presented by the author which used the sub-
state and multi-state regional council as the unit of analysis. The base map follows:
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3. Based on the nomination by Lee Schoenecker, the Regional and Intergovernmental Planning
Division was awarded the APA Division Education Excellence Award for this event at the 2008
APA annual conference.
The 5th Roundtable in 2008 was in Philadelphia, hosted by the Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission (DVRPC) with panel sessions entitled: Multi-Regional, Multi-State,
Megaregion – Planning Solutions, not a Lottery; Linking Land Use and Transportation; Is the
Mid-Atlantic Water-Rich? Regional Watershed Planning and Regional Responses to Air Quality
and Climate Change. A special event was: “A Strategic Discussion: The New Surface
Transportation Act: Authorization Issues, Needs and Goals moderated by Barry Seymour,
DVRPC Executive Director, with Anne P. Canby, President, The Surface Transportation Policy
Partnership (STPP) and The Honorable Allen D. Biehler, P.E., Pennsylvania Secretary of
Transportation and then Incoming President, American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO).
The 6th Roundtable I 2009 was in Frederick, Maryland hosted by the Metropolitan Washington
Council of Governments (MWCOG). Panels included: Metropolitan Council and State
Perspectives – Smart and Sustainable; Metropolitan Fringe – Rural and Small Metro Regions and
Counties – Smart, Sustainable and Metro Impacts - Smart and Sustainable – Local and Regional
from Academic and Federal Perspectives; Smart and Sustainable – Regional, Inter-regional and
Intergovernmental Planning Integration – How might we improve what is already being done?
Significant in this event was participation by representatives of the Smart Growth Center,
University of Maryland and The Smart Growth Program, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
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4. The presentation “Building Infrastructure for Mid-Atlantic Regional Analysis and Planning” by
Professor Gerrit Knaap, Executive Director of the Smart Growth Center, was a response to the
need and showed the potential for multi-regional analysis by the academic community to inform
the public and private sector.
The 7th Roundtable for 2010 is scheduled for Wilmington, Delaware, hosted by WILMAPCO
(Wilmington Area Planning Council) on September 30 and October 1, 2010. Under the title:
Sustainable Regions: States and Localities Working Regionally in the Mid-Atlantic, the keynote
speech is: Call to Action: Working Intergovernmentally in the Mid-Atlantic Region by Paul
Schmid, Legislative Assistant to Delaware U.S. Senator, Thomas Carper. Panels include:
Intermodal Regional Planning – The Roles of Rail, Aviation, Inter-city Bus in Sustainability for
Localities, States and Regions; Visioning Sustainability – Integrating new values in planning;
HUD/DOT/EPA Regional Sustainability Program Discussion Moderated by Barry Seymour,
Executive Director, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission; and State and Regional
Planning – Developing Tools that Support the Practice. The Closing Session is a - Next steps
discussion
The scope of co-sponsorship of this event has expanded to include: the North American Regional
Science Council (NARSC), the Regional Science Association International (RSAI), the Regional
Studies Association (RSA) and consultant organizations serving the Wilmapco Regional
Community and Mid-Atlantic: WR&A (Whitman, Requardt & Associates, LLP), Urban
Engineers, PB (Parsons Brincknerhoff), Remline, RK&K and HFA (Hurley Franks Associates).
Current Organization
The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable is currently a project of the Regional and
Intergovernmental Planning Division, American Planning Association. It is organized annually by
a Steering Committee made up of Division members and the host regional council/MPO. Base
funding is provided from the Division, with State APA Chapters contributions. Delaware,
Maryland, National Capital Area, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
Chapters have participated in funding which enables no registration fees for participants. AICP
Certification credits have been available for the past three years. The host region has also been a
source of funding and other organizations have provided in-kind or no cost resources.
The Regional and Intergovernmental Planning Division has provided based funding for three
years for this event which is also intended to be a model for similar multi-state regions in the U.S.
Such an offer was made in the 2009 APA presentation about the Roundtable at the Minneapolis
conference by the author. Interest was expressed by a local official from Ohio. The relationship of
this process to the mega-region scale is clear to many.
Historic Roundtable support has come from AMPO, NADO and NARC. This is acknowledged as
these associations and their members participate in and help publicize the Roundtable event, but
they would more likely fund a new Roundtable in another region of the U.S.
Options for relating to the academic resources for regional planning beyond the direct
participation of universities to date, include linkages with the North American Regional Science
Council (NARSC), particularly the Southern Regional Science Association (SRSA), as well as
the Regional Studies Association (RSA) and the American Association of Geographers (AAG).
The RSA Executive, Sally Hardy, is already active in building a relationship with APA and is
working with the Division. The author is a member of RSA and the Country Representative for
the U.S.
Future Options
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5. The Mid-Atlantic is a multi-state region with many sub-state and multi-state regional councils
and MPOs. It also includes the District of Columbia, the seat of the National government. The
nature of this hub city complicates relationships at the same time that they become more
important, as post 9/11 security concerns demonstrate. Regional environmental concerns for air
quality and Chesapeake Bay water quality, along with high speed rail and Interstate traffic, both
passenger and freight, are integrating concerns. A large area of the Mid-Atlantic does not have
current rail passenger service or viable options to restore it to existing freight lines. Therefore
coach regional bus service is an option. Coordination of transit with aviation has been raised as a
new issue in the current year’s program.
Where the early challenge of planning was to get governments to plan, now most do. The focus
has shifted to achieving a dynamic regional and intergovernmental integration of the many plans,
planning processes and planning entities for a good result.
Mr. Ron Thomas, AICP, said in a 2007 Conference in Calgary, Canada: “We know how to plan
for cities and towns, revitalization and industrial development, suburbs and malls, but we haven’t
figured out how to do cross-boundary regional planning. That is the future; that is the frontier.”
To date, the Roundtable process offers this perspective on the need:
• Some region to region cooperative analysis is being done along transportation
corridors, watersheds, airsheds, etc. by regional councils/COGs.
• Federal government agencies had not been initiating such efforts, however they have
responded to efforts like the I-95 Coalition. The new HUD Sustainable Communities
grant program offers the opportunity for new endeavors that include multi-regional
cooperation and implementation. An I-81 coalition along the lines of I-95 is currently
being developed. State DOTs have expressed an interest in cooperation with this new
group.
• States may have some interest, but again – may not be initiators.
• Impetus comes from stakeholders, the need to look beyond the planning region and
begin communication between regions.
• The Federal government has expanded its interest in regional collaboration, planning
and economic development as a consequence of the new global economy and the
financial crisis which began in 2008. All of this has contributed to the necessity of
cooperation. It also highlights the benefits to those areas which began cooperating
decades ago in regional council organizations.
• APA is best suited for this effort, with members at all levels in many capacities.
NARC, NADO and AMPO are partners. AAG, NARSC, RSA and SRSA represent
academic research and practitioners, collectively a great resource to inform the
planning processes, as well as planners and public officials at all levels.
Next Steps
Consistent with the methods of the planning profession, a plan should be developed based on
stated goals and objectives. For the purposes of beginning such a plan, the following thoughts are
offered as a basis for development of goal and objective statements:
◦ Councils of Government/Regional Councils/Metropolitan Planning Organizations in the Mid-
Atlantic have decades of experience building foundational relationships for regional
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6. planning between and for their local governments. The learning, plans and successes of
these organizations should be documented and shared between regions and states for
local, regional, state and federal planners, elected and appointed officials, the business
community, academic researchers, NGOs and citizens.
◦ Region to region organizational cooperation along transportation corridors, watersheds,
airsheds, economic and other multi-jurisdictional geographies is an emerging networking
method to tackle larger issues in coordination with single purpose regional entities for
some territories. Plan coordination and future plan development can be achieved through
regional planning roundtables.
◦ Metropolitan and non-metropolitan regions have different but related needs for community
development, long term maintenance of infrastructure and sustainability, the economy
and the environment. Federal and State policies in the current environment of limited
fiscal resources provide an incentive to local governments to consider expansion of
cooperative activities. Academic regional analysis and policy development will benefit
from utilization of existing Council of Government/Regional Council/Metropolitan
Planning Organization structures. The Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable is a
forum for such efforts.
◦ Roundtable events can:
• Showcase regional planning and cooperation in the host region.
• Include metro and non-metro perspectives in relation to state/Federal policy and
resources.
• Feature current/long term issues relevant to local/regional development
challenges for the Mid-Atlantic States/regions
• Involve academic and institutional regional research to utilize existing
knowledge and develop new and expanded regional and multi-regional resources
to support and inform planning and implementation at all levels
• Be held annually, with an option for special topic meetings as appropriate
• Involve APA State chapters on an ongoing basis
• Encourage and support long term development and use of multi-jurisdictional,
multi-state databases that can be used by public and private organizations for
regional analysis, planning and development of future alternative development
scenarios.
• Evolve to development of interregional projects, such as dealing with:
interregional freight, commuting, alternative development scenarios for regional
council/MPO regions; etc.
Further Development
As a consequence of working drafts of this paper, there has emerged interest in a more formal
process and network which could promote research and the sharing of learning between the
various levels of governmental planning in the Mid-Atlantic, encompassing local, regional, state
and Federal levels, as well as the private sector, both for-profit and non-profit organizations,
including leadership at all levels, elected, appointed, corporate, staff and citizen.
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7. The 7th Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable ended with a session dedicated to
development of next steps, be it as basic as the establishment of a Steering Committee which,
with representatives of the major stakeholders, could advance the ideas and build a network
which could report in 2011. Such a Committee was organized and the Mid-Atlantic Regional
Planning Network is currently being designed.
Roundtable History: Theme/Date/Hosts/Location
Mid-Atlantic Regional Transportation Planning Coordination Roundtable
October 21, 2005 – Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission (NSVRC)
and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG)
Lord Fairfax Community College, Middletown, Virginia
Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable – II
February 17, 2006 - National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), National
Association of Regional Councils (NARC) and AMPO (Association of Metropolitan Planning
Organizations)
400 N. Capitol St, NW, Hall of the States - Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Super-Region -
Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable – III
December 8, 2006 - Baltimore Metropolitan Council (BMC) and AMPO, NADO and NARC
- BMC offices – Baltimore, Maryland
4TH Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable
Taking Smart Growth to the Regional Level - 3.0 - Region to Region Cooperation
November 9, 2007 - George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC)
University of Mary Washington, North Stafford Campus - Fredericksburg, Virginia
5th Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable
Multi-Regional, Multi-State Solutions: Transportation, Land Use and Environmental
November 7, 2008 - Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
DVRPC offices - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
6th Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable
Smart and Sustainable – Local & Regional, State and Multi-State - How will planning
contribute to achieving these goals of the citizenry?
September 30 – October 1, 2009 - Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG)
Community Arts Center - Frederick, Maryland
7th Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Roundtable
Sustainable Regions: States and Localities Working Regionally in the Mid-Atlantic
September 30 – October 1, 2010 – WILMAPCO - Wilmington Area Planning
Council
Chase Center on the Riverfront - Wilmington, Delaware
Presentations online: http://www.wilmapco.org/mid-atlantic/
Prior year presentations online:
http://semanticommunity.info/Mid-Atlantic_Regional_Planning_Roundtables
Contact: Tom.Christoffel@gmail.com
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