Plotting the Future

>>For someone with a careerin planning, serendipity has been a powerful force in Jeff Ruggieri’s life.

He decided to become a planner during his last semester at the University of Rhode Island when he happened to pick up a book on the subject. He found it so intriguing he went on to get a master’s degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

He became Charlotte County’s growth management director a year ago even though he didn’t initially apply for the job—the person hired left quickly, and the county manager turned to Ruggieri, already on staff.

In his 10-year planning career, he’s done planning work in both the private and public sectors, following a path that started in New Hampshire and led through Mississippi, Houston, Sarasota and now to Charlotte County.

"It always seems to take about a year to get into a new job and a new location," says Ruggieri, 34. "Seems like I’d work for two years in one place and move on. But I’m in my second year here now, and I’m still learning."

What makes work in Charlotte County really different?

"The pre-platted lots," he says. "There are about 120,000 undeveloped, pre-planned, single-family lots here. You wonder why we don’t have as many big, master-planned communities like Lee and Collier counties? That’s why."

That’s also the big challenge for trying to diversify the county’s economic base, now reliant on seasonal visitors and retirees. With so much land tied up with so many owners located all over the world, putting together a piece of land large enough for a single large user is a serious challenge.

The issue becomes even greater now that Ruggieri is heading up work on Charlotte County’s new comprehensive plan. The current plan ends in 2010, so it’s time to re-evaluate how the county will grow and change in the next 40 years—a longer time period that most plans cover, and an element that makes the assignment even more interesting.