Cherokee County selected Pond to assist in developing a Key Findings Report and a Development Study. The Key Findings report articulated vital issues and trends driving all Comprehensive Plan elements, including housing, land use, transportation, economic development, broadband, and more.

Additionally, as a growing Metro-Atlanta County with five cities, understanding and managing potential growth patterns will become increasingly important over the next 20 years. The development study helped the county define different development scenarios using GIS spatial analysis. This analysis identified needed changes to the future development map to guide county leadership in zoning decisions appropriately and managing the intensity of future development across the county.

Pond hosted an online activity, survey, and four in-person workshops in key locations around the county to garner community input that informed the development study, including a Change and Preserve Activity and Community Scale Activity. The Change and Preserve Activity helped identify areas in need of attention. The Community Scale activity was designed to understand the types of development and intensity the community believes appropriate across various regions.

By paring community input with technical analysis, Pond could determine priority focus areas based on the community’s priorities and ongoing trends.