Georgia Mountains
Regional Development Center

Serving the Communities of Georgia Mountains since 1962

•  Banks • Dawson • Forsyth • Franklin • Habersham • Hall • Hart • Lumpkin • Rabun • Stephens • Towns • Union • White •

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Local/Regional Planning

In 1989 the Georgia State Legislature passed the Georgia Planning Act that established a coordinated planning program for Georgia, providing local governments with opportunities to plan for their future and to improve communication with their neighboring communities.  By practicing local comprehensive planning in a manner consistent with the minimum standards dictated by the Planning Act local governments can maintain a “Qualified Local Government” (QLG) status and thus be eligible for select state funding and/or assistance programs.  Local governments then use Comprehensive Plans and Solid Waste Management Plans to help guide implementation of policies and programs to achieve a communities long-term goals and objectives.

The Georgia Planning Act also officially recognizes the State’s Regional Development Centers (RDCs) and their roles in assisting with community development.  The RDCs are charged with providing a basic level of education and assistance to local governments as well as performing a level of compliance and consistency review for every plan completed within their region.  Most RDCs, including the GMRDC, regularly contract with local governments to serve as the principal author their plans, as requested.

In addition to working with local governments for their individual plans the GMRDC maintains a Regional Plan to assist in the coordination between local and multi-jurisdictional projects throughout the region.  During FY 2006 the GMRDC completed the required annual update to the Work Program element of the Regional Plan that monitors progress toward every objective.  Part of the past year’s list of accomplishments include continued work on building informational datasets of key environmental and historic resources, developing materials for planning commissioner education and continued development of the in-house database on land use and development regulations.