Planning & Development Services

U.S. Treasury Non-entitlement Community ARPA Guidance

The Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund will provide $19.53 billion to support tens of thousands of non-entitlement units of local government, which are local governments typically serving a population under 50,000.  The following links provide information on implementation, compliance, and reporting for ARPA non-entitlement community recipients.

Digital Economy Training Program (2024)

In July 2024, UCPCOG received funding from the North Carolina Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) to provide digital skills trainings across the five-county region.  Through strategic partnerships that cover each county, UCPCOG will host digital skills trainings using the Northstar training platform for residents in one or more of the Digital Equity Act’s covered populations.  The first 575 graduates (at least) will receive a high-quality, refurbished device upon completion of the training program. Project partners include the Choanoke Area Development Association, Edgecombe Community College, Nash Community College, and Wilson Community College.   To help ensure the project results in maximum benefit to covered populations and to avoid duplicating other ongoing efforts, UCPCOG created a Digital Literacy Coalition (DLC) to provide guidance throughout the project period (which is through the end of 2026).   The DLC consists of digital inclusion resources from all five counties.

Project goals include:

• Establish a Regional Digital Literacy Coalition
• Provide Digital Literacy Skills Training and Instruction
• Increase Access to Digital Skills Training
• Provide Refurbished Laptops to Training Graduates
• Develop an Employer-Recognized Digital Work Ready Certification

For more information about the Digital Economy Training Program, contact Mary Jane Lyonnais.

Upper Coastal Plain Digital Inclusion Plan

The UCPCOG developed a regional digital inclusion plan in April 2021.  The document includes a unique digital inclusion plan for each of the five counties in the region after a robust planning process involving 5 separate steering committees and the Upper Coastal Plain Broadband Task Force.  The plan was facilitated and developed by the UCPCOG in partnership with Broadband Catalysts, thanks to a BAND-NC grant from NC State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues.  

You can download the UCP Digital Inclusion Plan on our Publications webpage.

Regional Broadband Initiative (2020)

UCPCOG and its Regional Broadband Task Force received a grant from the US Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA) in 2020 to conduct a Regional Broadband Initiative to better understand and address broadband challenges and opportunities for underserved communities across the Upper Coastal Plain five-county region.  You can view the Broadband Initiative press release here. 

The initiative’s scope of work, which was implemented between March 2020 – March 2022, included: 

• Surveying local governments to determine current conditions, needs, goals, challenges, existing assets, and potential partnerships related to improving broadband infrastructure 
• Surveying public in communities across the region to more accurately determine needs, digital literacy, and more through a partnership with NC Department of Information Technology’s Broadband Infrastructure Office. 
• Providing stakeholder and community educational and targeted, like webinars and workshops, to improve technical expertise, build relationships, support sound decision-making, increase public demand, and more. 
• Further the region’s understanding of its digital inclusion landscape. 
• Take steps to attract or expand affordable, reliable, high-speed internet service across the region. 

This project was an important precursor to all of UCPCOG’s digital inclusion activities, which closely followed and were highlighted due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A Brownfield is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.” – US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Upper Coastal Plain Brownfields Program

The Upper Coastal Plain Brownfields Coalition Program provides professional technical and economic assistance to qualified owners and potential purchasers/developers of Brownfields properties with the goal of putting these sites back into beneficial reuse.

Resources & Benefits

• Grant-funded site assessments, qualifying clean-up plans, consulting, and activities
• State liability relief through Brownfields Agreements (BFA) execution
• Tax credits for BFA compliance
• Quantification of costs for deal closure
• Reuse of existing infrastructure
• Redevelopment of underutilized sites
• Neighborhood and community revitalization
• Job creation and increased tax base
• Protection of public health and environment

Program Activities

Environmental Site Assessments

The program can provide a qualified property owner and/or prospective developer with EPA grant supported Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) to evaluate the potential presence and extent of hazardous and/or petroleum substances.

Cleanup & Redevelopment Planning

The program can provide funding to determine the feasibility and approach of remediation options at a site.  A cleanup plan will be considered for sites that have the greatest potential for redevelopment while meeting community needs and reducing environmental risks.

Community Outreach

The program educates and builds regional capacity through outreach, presentations, events, periodic advertisements, newsletters, and direct engagement.  Citizens and businesses residing near a site receiving assistance may have the opportunity to learn about and respond to current and planned Brownfields activities and redevelopment plans.

Typical Brownfield Sites

• Former factories, textile mills, and industries
• Previous auto service and fueling stations
• Former dry cleaners
• Agribusiness operations
• Past chemical storage locations
• Old landfills, auto salvage, and junk yards
• Sites where suspected contamination or environmental uncertainty is inhibiting reuse or redevelopment from taking place.

Upper Coastal Plain Brownfields Coalition Partnership

The coalition is an advisory group consisting of representatives from coalition member counties and municipalities across the Upper Coastal Plain region.

Members

• Conetoe
• Conway
• Dortches
• Enfield
• Garysburg
• Littleton
• Middlesex
• Princeville
• Roanoke Rapids
• Rocky Mount
• Saratoga
• Scotland Neck
• Sharpsburg
• Speed
• Stantonsburg
• Weldon
• Whitakers
• Halifax County
• Nash County
• Northampton County
• Contact Ben Farmer for more information. 

Upper Coastal Plain CEDS 2023-2027

The primary purpose of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) is to provide a comprehensive, performance-based strategy to strengthen the region. The process includes an analysis of the region’s economy, established plans, area challenges & opportunities, with strategies and tactics for moving the region forward. 

The CEDS (CEDS 2023-2027) is designed to identify both regional and local priorities for economic, community, and human development. It strives to take a holistic approach, recognizing that the many complex issues and systems are interconnected and reliant upon each other.  The success of this strategy relies on informed stakeholder input, key baseline data and facts, and partnership action on implementation. Working together as a region on these agreed-upon strategies and actions will result in a more resilient, thriving, equitable economy and community. 

Every 5 years, UCPCOG fully updates this strategic plan for the region. The CEDS is a locally-based, regionally-driven economic development process and document that engages community leaders, private sector partners, and other stakeholders in planning and acting for the future. The process is designed to identify locally-grown strategies that will guide regional economic development, encourage partnerships and collaboration, and improve economic outcomes and overall quality of life in the region. Included in this plan is a summary of the economic conditions of the region, an analysis of regional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (commonly known as a “SWOT” analysis), an action plan, and an evaluation framework to monitor performance and the CEDS’ impact on the regional economy. Economic resilience — or the ability to prevent, withstand, and quickly recover from major disruptions to the economic base — is also a key component of the CEDS.

The most recent annual update of the CEDS can be found on our Publications page.

Tri-COG Food Ecosystem Economic Development Strategy (Tri-COG FEEDS)

Understanding & Creating Pathways to Build the Local Healthy Food Value Chain in the Triangle J, Kerr-Tar, and Upper Coastal Plain Council of Governments’ Region. 

Learn more about the project findings and next steps on the Tri-COG FEEDS Project Website

Goal: A regional food planning initiative to shorten supply chains, drive economic development, create quality jobs, enhance resilient practices, and foster equity in the greater region’s food system.

Counties: Chatham, Durham, Edgecombe, Franklin, Granville, Halifax, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Nash, Northampton, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake, Warren, and Wilson.   

Objectives: 

• Collaboration: Build upon partnerships with community food system practitioners from each sector in the food system
• Exploration and Modeling: Examine the current regional food system from production to waste and partner with practitioners to develop models that identify & recommend needed food system infrastructure  
• Economic Impact Analysis: Identify the potential economic impacts from increasing food system connectivity 
• Policy Strategy: Inform decision-makers on state and local policies that strengthen the regional food system with an emphasis on small, beginning, and historically disadvantaged farmers and food businesses

Sign up for our mailing list to receive occasional project updates: Tri-COG FEEDS Listserv 

Project funded under the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program and the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust

Regional Healthy Food Access Mapping (Healthy FAM)

In February 2020, UCPCOG kicked off the Healthy FAM project with partners from across the five-county region.   The primary goal: Empower the region to create new wealth and improved health through understanding and growing the local food system, and improve access for those who are underserved.  

Healthy FAM creates deep transparency into the Upper Coastal Plain region’s local, healthy food system. Over 40 stakeholder organizations engaged with 6 lead entities to gather unprecedented input from 400+ people.    Input was combined with data to analyze and assess the region’s local healthy food system and make over 65 recommendations in the areas of Access, Community Development & Planning, Community Gardens & Land-use & Urban Agriculture, Farms, Finance, Institutional Purchasing, and more.
The project’s web link below offers a Project Summary slide deck, a “deep dive” storyboard, the detailed Healthy FAM Assessment Report, an integrated GIS Food System Map, and more.  Work shows known assets in the region from fresh food growers, distributors, processors, outlets, business consumers, and more.  Key health and economic information is also included. 
Information is intended to be leveraged by anyone wanting to further study, improve, and/or develop the local, healthy food system in an equitable and sustainable way. 
 
Click here to view the project’s results.

The Healthy FAM Project was funded by the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust.

The State of North Carolina has prioritized efforts to build disaster recovery capacity among local governments, particularly as it relates to the management of recovery funds. The General Assembly provided a grant to the North Carolina Association of Regional Councils of Governments to provide financial training and conduct activities to build regional and local capacity. The Association disseminated these funds to the sixteen Councils of Government across the state to oversee capacity building in their service area. Upper Coastal Plain COG is using this funding through June 30, 2024, to build capacity in several ways, including: 

• Surveying local governments and key stakeholders on resilience planning, project, funding, and other needs and priorities. 
• Providing training and resources for local government staff on the financial and administrative management of disaster recovery funds. 
• Informing local governments and communities about NCORR, the related NC RISE regional UCPCOG Vulnerability Assessment, and Priority Projects. 
• Through workshops and technical support, aid interested local governments with identifying local priority resilience projects, funding opportunities, and creating practical, targeted, local documents for implementing the next steps. 
• Informing local governments on Electric Vehicle charging and Microgrid infrastructure needs, tools, and funding sources to support building a more modern and resilient energy infrastructure (see recorded webinar links below).  This includes an EV charging needs analysis along the US Highway 64 evacuation corridor and three detailed, local, microgrid suitability analysis for chosen communities. 
• Providing cloud-based GIS and Mapping upload services for select interested local governments. 
• Investigating and reporting about how emergency food response works in the region and how the system may be improved to ensure adequate and timely supplies, incorporate fresh food at the local level, and include local farmers who may be able to aid the system. 
• Identify and seek funding for local and regional disaster resilience projects in the areas of infrastructure, planning, community and economic development, housing, and other identified priorities.

Hazard Mitigation

North Carolina counties and communities have adopted new Hazard Mitigation Plans. These plans are prerequisites to many grant programs including Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants. 

Approved Regional Plans

• Nash-Edgecombe-Wilson Counties
• Northampton-Halifax Counties

Other Resources

• Princeville Recovery Plan 2018 
• Flood Insurance Information

On-Call Planning & Administration List

The Planning & Development Services Department offers a list of pre-qualified planning firms to serve member government’s planning and administration needs. Seven firms were selected to work with any of our member governments on a combination of long range planning, current planning, and community development project administration services. Member governments may negotiate directly with these firms without conducting a separate procurement process between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2026. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) must be executed between the member government and UCPCOG prior to entering an agreement with one of the on-call firms if the member government is using the list as a procurement method. Contact Ben Farmer to request an MOU or for assistance utilizing the on-call list.

Long Range Planning Firms

• Dennis Patton
• Green Heron Planning (with Nealon Planning and Bolton & Menk)
• Inspire Placemaking Collective
• Kleinfelder
• Stewart, Inc.
• WithersRavenel

Current Planning Firms

• L to Z Zoning Consultants (Shawn Lucas
• Stewart, Inc
• WithersRavenel

Community Development Project Administration

• Dennis Patton
• Kleinfelder

Firm Contact and Background

Note from PDS: when approaching an on-call firm about a potential contract, please copy or otherwise notify PDS Director Ben Farmer.  We also recommend mentioning this on-call list in your first communication. 

Dennis Patton

Background

Contact: Dennis Patton, dennispatton718@gmail.com

Green Heron Planning

Background

Website

Contact: Ben Hitchings, bhitchings@greenheronplanning.com

Inspire Placemaking Collective

Background

Website

Contact: Jay McLeod, jmcleod@inspireplacemaking.com

Kleinfelder

Background

Website

Contact: Lauren Falcone, LFalcone@kleinfelder.com

L to Z Zoning Consultants (Shawn Lucas)

Background

Contact: Shawn Lucas, shwnlcs14@gmail.com

Stewart, Inc.

Background

Website

Contact: Jake Petrosky, jpetrosky@stewartinc.com, Andrea Radford, aradford@stewartinc.com

WithersRavenel

Background

Website

Contact: Greg Feldman, gfeldman@withersravenel.com, Adam Caldwell, acaldwell@withersravenel.com