MILT RHODES
Raleigh, NC

AFFILIATION: Director of Town Planning and Program Development, North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance

AREA OF EXPERTISE: Water Quality Planning, Stormwater and Utilities Planning, Site Design

BACKGROUND & EXPERIENCE:  Milt considers himself a technical generalist with a focus on how changes in the landscape impact water quality and environmental resources.  Milt has worked in the state governments of both North Carolina and South Carolina and has been associated with a number of conventional and New Urbanist communities.  Through the North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance, Milt works with communities throughout the state of North Carolina developing policies, practices, and plans to inspire choices that enrich community growth opportunities. In addition, Milt is involved with developing a curriculum and lecture series highlighting smart growth efforts across the state. 

RESEARCH INTERESTS: Milt is interested in determining which features within the field of site design best apply to a given location within a watershed and impact the environment the least.  Determining the most sensitive sites is a challenge in and of itself, but that challenge is enhanced by applying the principles of the New Urbanism, as reflected in the Lexicon of the New Urbanism, to determine the most appropriate site design.  His research will establish a set of criteria that can help determine the scale and concentration of development practices necessary for an area in order to reduce short term and long term environmental impacts brought on by landscape change. This criteria can then be used in constructing a recommended practices manual for projects in North Carolina.  Ultimately, a functional classification for projects that can be applied across watersheds should allow for projects to be reviewed and evaluated for impact in a much more timely fashion, leading to greater efficiencies in the review process while setting a standard for future development across larger areas.

E-MAIL: milt.rhodes@ncmail.net