Fiscally-informed planning, design, and community engagement to cultivate strong neighborhoods.
Thursday, November 16, 2023 — Friday, November 17, 2023
Verdunity will be there as a panelist
More information to come
Event link: https://www.tml.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=459&month=11&year=2023&day=3&calType=0
Customizing Comp Plans for Small Towns
Just because a community is small doesn’t mean the issues they face are any less challenging or warrant less time and resources than bigger cities. However, with limited staff and funding, it can be difficult for small towns and rural communities to prioritize where to invest limited resources to address the needs of current residents while also positioning to attract new businesses and residents.
Comprehensive plans for these communities are often nonexistent or outdated. When updates are done, a common approach is to try to address everything all at once by copying the myriad elements that plans for larger cities have and scaling back the engagement, specificity of the analysis, and deliverable design. An alternative approach is to identify the most pressing issues and desired outcomes and build a customized process and plan that can help your community make meaningful progress right now with the resources available.
This session features examples from three award-winning comp plans for small towns facing a spectrum of development, infrastructure, and housing challenges and highlights elements of the process and deliverables that were customized to meet their needs.
Presenters: AJ Fawver, Kevin Shepherd, and Tom Yantis
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
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Small Towns, Big Challenges
Have you ever left a planning conference session scratching your head over how to implement an idea shared that required a staff of dozens or project expenditures that are seemingly larger than your community’s entire municipal budget? Have you ever had a hard time relating to solutions presented in sessions that relied on a group of highly expert team members performing highly specialized roles, because you can’t even remember which of your many hats you should actually be wearing at the moment?
Then this session is for you! It is tailored to address the unique challenges and resource limitations of small communities. Panelists with diverse personal and professional perspectives will share their real-world experiences in working with and for small communities and how they have helped them more effectively improve their planning and development processes. We will explore how rapidly changing public service expectations, small-town politics, generational shifts in lifestyles, technology advances, remote work, economic paradigm shifts, demands for affordable housing, and financial pressures are making it increasingly difficult for planners and zoning administrators to serve small town’s growing needs with limited resources. The panelists will share examples of how communities have successfully overcome challenges by implementing smart process and communication designs and cost-effective technology upgrades that have made real improvements in the usability of their community’s plans and zoning codes for the public, all while saving valuable municipal staff time.
Presenters: Wayne Childs and AJ Fawver
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
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Event Link: https://web.cvent.com/event/779f54d0-a9a1-4eaf-be0b-06636f2935e9/summary
Verdunity is sponsoring and presenting
Using Fiscal Sustainability to Align Vision, Policy, and Investments
The cost of building and maintaining cities is on the rise, while gaps between what housing costs and what most people can afford are growing as well. With raising taxes off the table, cities must find other ways to bridge resource gaps while continuing to provide quality services at affordable price points. In this session, representatives from the City of Taylor, Verdunity, and a local developer will discuss how fiscal sustainability can be used as a common language to bring perspectives together and align decisions about land use and growth management, infrastructure, and economic development to cultivate communities that are vibrant, resilient, and affordable to live in and maintain.
Presenters: Kevin Shepherd PE, Founder/CEO, Verdunity; Brant Rydell, Mayor, City of Taylor; Tom Yantis AICP, Assistant City Manager/Development Services Director, City of Taylor; Douglas Moss AIA, LEED AP, President, Public Sketch, LLC
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://tmlconference.org/
Verdunity will be attending
International City/County Management Association is the leading organization of local government professionals dedicated to creating and sustaining thriving communities throughout the world.
The 2023 ICMA Annual Conference will be held in Austin, TX, September 30-October 4, 2023. ICMA will bring local government professionals together for unparalleled leadership and professional development, networking, and best-in-class programming you won’t want to miss!
Event Link: https://conference.icma.org/
Aligning Development with Fiscal Health and Affordability
Most cities strive to be fiscally responsible, inclusive, and resilient. Unfortunately, policies and investments rarely align with these outcomes, often prioritizing autocentric growth without fully considering long-term costs. We’re left with fragile local economies, growing affordability and infrastructure funding gaps, and neighborhoods people struggle to connect with and invest in.
This session will highlight how to use fiscal sustainability as a common language to align vision, policies, and investments around cultivating fiscally productive development with diverse housing and mobility options so that we can get back to building vibrant communities we can afford to live in and maintain.
Presenters: Kevin Shepherd and Ryan Wozniak
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://arizona.planning.org/conference-events/2023-state-planning-conference/
Wednesday, May 31, 2023 - Saturday, June 3, 2023
Wednesday - Saturday: 8:00am - 8:00pm
The Westin
Each Congress offers attendees the chance to experience and connect with an inspiring host region. Since its earliest days, the event has evolved towards greater immersion in local places, cultures, and issues—helping residents to understand the fascinating story of a unique metro region. Through scholarships, public events, and Legacy Charrette program, the Congress also seeks to leave a legacy of understanding and a positive placemaking impact on its host city. This year’s host city is Charlotte, North Carolina.
With several billion dollars invested in transportation to support walkability, the Charlotte community is committed to walkable urbanism. Not only is there a longstanding tradition of New Urbanist design in the region, Charlotte is also incorporating new urbanist principles into its current growth and development patterns. The explosion of growth and the future of walkable urbanism in Charlotte will be on full display at CNU 31. With over 10,000 new residential units at the South End light rail station areas alone and over 3.8 billion dollars of investment in its first transit corridor – all walkable urbanism – there's a lot to showcase!
In sessions, attendees convene to hear from speakers, participate in workshops, collaborate on projects, and learn new strategies from leaders in dozens of fields. Our 100+ speakers and workshop leaders challenge attendees to broaden their thinking on design, development, engineering, health, equity, and climate, to name a few topics. Our Congress is the leading international gathering for the people and organizations building places people love.
Event Link: https://www.cnu.org/cnu31
Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Tuesday: 7:00pm - 9:30pm
Wednesday: 8:00am - 4:30pm
The Westin
Join us at the Strong Towns National Gathering to hear from inspiring speakers, participate in hands-on workshops, and meet with fellow advocates. This event is geared toward planning professionals, local government staff, and, most of all, everyday Strong Towns advocates. There will be AICP credits available to professionals.
Event Link: https://www.strongtowns.org/national-gathering
Thursday, May 11, 2023 - Friday, May 12, 2023
Thursday: 7:30am - 4:15pm
Friday: 8:00am - 11:30am
Bastrop Convention Center
Cultivating Strong Towns with Incremental Development
Though we are seeing significant shifts of population back into small and rural communities, many places still find themselves with a stagnant or declining citizenry. In these places, there is a struggle to find the resources to keep up with services and infrastructure and outside economic opportunities are rare. Conversely, where growth is happening, finding and fostering development that ensures long-term financial resilience and affordability is imperative. In this session, examples from Fate, Taylor, and other Texas communities will be shared to illustrate how principles from Strong Towns and an incremental, small-scale approach to development can be used to create jobs, provide affordable housing and commercial space, and grow revenues that can be invested back into improving your community without being reliant on massive outside investment.
Presenter: Kevin Shepherd
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://tmlsmalltownconference.org/
Sustainable Development: Cultivating Fiscal Health and Local Wealth
Kevin will be delivering the keynote presentation for the November TML Region 7 meeting. Kevin’s talk will cover how to use fiscal sustainability as a common language to align vision, policies, and outcomes with what residents are willing and able to pay for now and in the future.
Presenter: Kevin Shepherd
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: not available
Aligning Development Policies to Cultivate Vibrant Communities
Creating walkable downtowns and mixed-use neighborhoods to retain and attract residents and businesses is a growing trend in Texas, but delivering this type of development in the current legislative and political environment can be an uphill battle. Land use, zoning, mobility, and housing policies and standards all have to be aligned, and concerns of elected officials and residents that have traditionally been opposed to density, incremental activation projects, and walkable development have to be addressed. This session will cover tools and strategies that can be applied to bring people and perspectives together to support appropriately scaled versions of this development in your community. Presenters will share case studies from their work with various towns and cities across Texas, as well as emerging best practices.
Presenters: Kevin Shepherd and AJ Fawver
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://tmleconomicdevelopment.org/hotel-and-general-information/
Out of Sight, Out of Mind
When we think about downtown revitalization and maintaining a unique part of our communities, we tend to forget about what's out of sight: the physical infrastructure on which Downtown relies for its success. It is easy to understand why these elements are so often forgotten until they become urgent, hidden away they often work exactly as you expect, right up until they don't. But this unintended neglect results in a scramble for funding as competing agencies and organizations are faced with insufficient resources to meet every need. It is critical that cities of all sizes understand how to quantify the impact of the expenditures they are considering, and objectively compare them to the other items seeking funding. Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a common language that could be used to compare all needs and determine how to get the best bang for the buck? The good news? There is. Learn how to bring this language to your own community and help your own downtown receive the same level of consideration that the new development that expands is getting.
Presenters: Kevin Shepherd and AJ Fawver
Location: Spring Lake Salon C
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://texasdowntown.org/programs/texas-downtown-conference
Creating a Common Language with Fiscal Sustainability
Planners struggle with reconciling the often-competing interests of public good and private development, urban and rural perspectives, and the span between citizen values and visions. A contributor to this conundrum is the use of differing languages that prevent mutual understanding. Learn how communities of all sizes can use fiscal sustainability as a common language for discussing common problems and building common solutions that bridge the differences between these perspectives. This session will cover how cities can use the language of fiscal sustainability to:
Make decisions about land use and development patterns;
Cultivate prosperity and a local, self-sustaining economy;
Determine your resource gaps and begin closing them;
Involve the community in plan implementation;
Inspire change and build trust in public decision making.
Of course, this common language stems from the ability to quantify and map the performance of your city in its current state. Included will be key examples from cities of various sizes where this process has helped city staff, citizens, developers, and elected officials to focus their efforts and rally around an approach that transcends changes in leadership.
Presenters: Kevin Shepherd and AJ Fawver
Download Presentation: LINK
Event Link: https://www.westernplanner.org/2022-conference
Policy Tools that Undermine Your City’s Fiscal Productivity
Cities of all sizes use ordinances and regulations to seemingly protect and enhance their overall community. What if those well-intentioned efforts actually work against the community? This is commonplace, and in this session, a re-examination of the impacts of those efforts will help attendees understand how scale, context, and philosophy are critical to creating a regulatory framework that achieves desired outcomes in a way that truly pays off. A new approach to code writing and updating is needed, and well within reach if the conversations surrounding them are facilitated by planners who can help their city leaders understand the connections between policy and fiscal productivity.
Learning Objectives:
Reveal the parts of typical city tools that work against a community’s fiscal productivity.
Understand and embrace a new paradigm for code writing and updating.
Illustrate the connection between seemingly prudent requirements and system-wide failures.
Presenters: AJ Fawver and Karina Castillo
Download Presentation: LINK
Event Link: https://texas.planning.org/conferences-and-events/past-conferences/
Investing and Leveraging Resources to Make Your Community More Financially Strong and Environmentally Resilient
Most cities say they want to be fiscally solvent, environmentally resilient, and inclusive, yet daily decisions rarely align with these outcomes. Development and infrastructure decisions often prioritize growth and short-term needs without fully considering long-term costs and impacts. As a result, we're left with growing infrastructure funding and affordability gaps, increasing extreme weather events (and the damages as a result), and disconnected residents. To put communities back on a sustainable path, local leaders must think differently about how to build and rebuild neighborhoods and infrastructure, and not waste valuable resources rebuilding the same pattern that created these challenges. The ongoing rollout of ARPA and other federal funding programs offer a great opportunity to invest funds in projects that close resource gaps, improve environmental resilience, and create more inclusive and affordable neighborhoods. Join this session to learn about tools, strategies, and examples of how to align and leverage resources with your community's desired outcomes so that your city can be vibrant and resilient for years to come.
Learning Objectives:
Learn from, and replicate, real-world climate change strategies that improve infrastructure
Leverage federal funding and tools to achieve local infrastructure resilience
Apply proven strategies that can ensure long-term infrastructure savings
Presenters: Alisha Reis (moderator), Kevin Shepherd, Andrew Kleine, Brian Staley
Download Presentation (when available): LINK
Event Link: https://conference.icma.org/
The Link between Land Use Planning and Revenues
Land use planning decisions are often made without considering the impact on a local government's revenues - yet land uses determine a local government's tax base! This session will feature research from GFOA's Rethinking Revenue initiative and you will see how local governments have begun to connect their land use planning to revenue planning. Attendees will come away from the session with practical advice on how to make the case for linking land use planning and revenue planning in your community and the steps you can take make land use planning decisions that are more supportive of strong local revenues.
Presenters: Laurie Brewer (moderator, City of Georgetown, TX), Kevin Shepherd, Michael Kovacs (City of Fate, TX), Justin Weiss (City of Fate, TX)
Download Presentation (when available):
Event Link: https://www.gfoa.org/conference
AJ Fawver will be speaking at the annual conference for Engaging Local Government Leaders!
Annual Conference for North Texas Building Professional Institute
Session: The Reality of Planning for Communities – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
AJ Fawver and Kevin Shepherd will be speaking. More details to come!
APA's 2020 National Planning Conference
Session 1: Managers as Leaders Institute
Session 2: Plan4Equity Forum
AJ Fawver will be speaking in both sessions on Sunday, April 26. More details to come!
Texas Municipal League: Elected Officials Conference for Mayors, Councilmembers, and Commissioners
Cultivating Community Capital, One Building at a Time
City leaders are under more pressure than ever to keep up with growing service and infrastructure liabilities while also continuing to provide jobs, entertainment and quality, affordable housing options. There are realistic, affordable steps communities can take right now to bridge the resource gap, revitalize neighborhoods and cultivate a self-sustaining local economy without raising taxes. Presenters will share case studies demonstrating how cities in Texas and across the country are using revenue per acre fiscal modeling, community partnerships and small development to incrementally cultivate wealth and fiscal sustainability in their communities.
Presenter: Kevin Shepherd
Cultivating Fiscally Resilient Communities (Kevin Shepherd)
Economic development in rural communities (AJ Fawver presenting)
Series of community education events on the fiscal impact of land use and infrastructure design and incremental development (Kevin Shepherd facilitating with Monte Anderson)
Cultivating Community Capital, One Building at a Time (Kevin Shepherd presenting with Monte Anderson)
How to Maximize Your Community’s Financial Resources in a Constrained Revenue Environment (Kevin Shepherd and Felix Landry presenting with Scott Livingston and Justin Weiss)
Cultivating Fiscally Resilient Communities (Kevin Shepherd, in partnership with Incremental Development Alliance and the Tecovas Foundation)
