By: Lucille Lannigan, Growth and Development Reporter 

The Coastal Regional Commission of Georgia is working on its new Coastal Georgia Regional Plan and Comprehensive Economic Development, and it wants to hear from residents.

The CRC is a multi-county planning and development organization that partners with local governments in their planning and development efforts. Every five years it updates its regional plan and comprehensive economic development strategy to adjust to developing needs. Wincy Poon, the CRC’s GIS Manager, said the plan facilitates regional collaboration and communication.

“We're not able to say build a house for you or put in some utility lines for a specific local government, but the process of the plan kind of encourages that communication and kind of opens those communications up,” Poon said.

The CRC gathers community input through three open houses and an online survey, which had gathered about 80 responses as of March 19. Two public houses were hosted in Darien and Statesboro.

Open house attendees are invited to read from informational boards and share their ideas on sticky notes. Sticky notes at the Statesboro open house emphasized a need for emphasizing natural and cultural resources, adapting to population increase in the region as well as community affordability and sustainability.

Poon said housing is a problem that is frequently brought up by the public.

She said as the CRC develops a new plan, growth spurred by the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America is the key focus.

“A lot of communities – their challenge is seeing the growth and how to meet the demands of that growth, how to balance growth with your local community’s sense of place, " Poon said. “A lot of communities are more aware of the growth coming in and try to think ahead.”

Justin Williams, the Statesboro Planning Director, said affordable housing that meets the demands of growth is a weakness he’d like to see the plan address.

“Regional direction is important,” he said. “Each one of our municipalities are different, but I’m excited to see how we collaborate.”

The link to the online survey is https://bit.ly/crcregionalplan

The final open house will take place at the Coastal Botanical Gardens at 2 Canebrake Rd. in Savannah, on April 8 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.