To Our Fellow Central Floridians,

By working together we can dramatically impact our future.

We invite you to join us in a continuing journey to implement a shared vision to help Central Florida continue to be a great place to live, learn, work, and play.

Over the past 18 months, we have had the privilege of participating in a historic “community conversation” to develop a shared 50-year vision for the seven-county Central Florida Region – Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, and Volusia counties – and the 3.5 million people who live in these counties and their diverse cities and towns.

We look at the forces shaping our nation and world, and we agree that Central Florida is uniquely positioned to be one of the most dynamic regions of the 21st Century. We celebrate our history of imagination turned into action – and we believe that the people that produced Walt Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, the University of Central Florida, the Daytona International Speedway, and many otherworld renowned assets can reinvent this region yet again.

We celebrate the diversity of our people, our economy, and communities as we look toward a shared future and address our commonissues. From Orlando to Lakeland, Daytona Beach to Kissimmee, Titusville to Winter Springs, Groveland to Windermere, Central Florida is a single region with many facets.

We acknowledge our rich heritage, our distinctive places, and our precious environment – and we pledge to preserve the best of these resources for future generations.

We recognize that the State of Florida projects that Central Florida’s population will more than double between 2005 and 2050, to more than 7 million residents.

We have choices about how, where, and in what form our region will grow. We can continue our current pattern of development, which will cause us to consume land at a rapid pace, encroach on critical environmental resources, lose the distinctiveness of our communities, and paralyze our residents and businesses in traffic.

Or, we can boldly choose a different approach where we conserve our environment, strengthen our urban centers, and provide a variety of choices for how we live, work, travel, raise our families, and enjoy our free time.

We recognize that the decisions we make today about future growth will determine the competitiveness of our economy, the sustainability of our environment, and the quality of life for future generations. The decisions about development made by individual communities can have impacts far beyond their boundaries. That’swhy a regional, collaborative approach is imperative.

We applaud thework of numerous public, private, and civic organizations, aswell as the nearly 20,000 Central Floridians who have helped answer the question “How Shall We Grow?” We believe that the Central Florida Regional Growth Vision reflects what matters most as we raise our families, grow our businesses, and build our communities.

Together, we present the Central Florida Regional Growth Vision. This Vision, and the accompanying Policy Framework and Action Plan, offers strategic direction for our future. This Vision also includes the following Regional Growth Compact -- our declaration of inter-dependence:

• We acknowledge that the Central Florida Regional Growth Vision is a community-generated guide for the future development of the region.

• We agree to enhance existing or develop new practices to continue cooperation and consensus-building at the regional level in support of the Central Florida Regional Growth Vision. These practices may include:

- Establish a forum for continued cooperation among regional elected officials.
-Work with the seven-county legislative delegation to establish regional legislative delegation meetings and priorities.
-Work with the legislature to advance regional priorities consistent with this Vision.

• We agree to consider the following six regional growth principles when making future public, private, and civic investment decisions.
- Preserve open space, recreational areas, farmland, water resources, and regionally significant natural areas.
- Provide a variety of transportation choices.
- Foster distinct, attractive, and safe places to live.
- Encourage a diverse, globally competitive economy.
- Create a range of obtainable housing opportunities and choices.
- Build communities with educational, health care, and cultural amenities.

 •We agree to coordinate regional action in these six areas by enhancing existing or developing new regional partnerships.

• We acknowledge that comprehensive plans and other regional and local plans are the critical tools for translating this Vision into action. We agree to:

-Develop or update strategic regional policy plans, community visions, local government comprehensive plans, transportation plans, resource agency plans, and economic development plans to develop more specific goals, policies, and programs to manage long range growth and guide infrastructure investments consistent with this Vision.
- Consider this Vision and the six regional growth principles in future updates of these plans.
- Coordinate local and regional plans with those of neighboring and overlapping government entities, as well as key statewide plans.

• We agree to work toward additional intergovernmental agreements when necessary to address opportunities for joint action or to resolve inconsistencies among statewide, regional, and local policies and plans.

• We agree to promote understanding and support of this Vision by public, private, and civic leaders, as well as the community.

• We agree tomonitor progress toward thisVision and to develop a process for updating the Vision over time to respond to evolving regional trends.

Finally, we invite you – our family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and, ultimately our children and grandchildren, to join us aswework toward this shared regional vision.