We had a very successful 2nd Meeting of the Regional Planning Commission yesterday. This is the report of the meeting. Unfortunately my notetaker malfunctioned for some reason and I didn't get a transcript of the meeting.
The meeting discussed and agreed the following:
[list:rufe12ff]1. The CDS Estate Plan will be a framework for our expansion but must not become a straitjacket. While the plan includes topographical detail and a road and waterways plan, these should not inhibit the submission of good ideas which fit in with the other established sims but which differ from the Estate Plan in some way. For example, the plan envisages a smooth transition to sea level; this should not inhibit people from submitting ideas for sheer cliffs or mountains slopes provided their proposal can deal with the transitions from one level to another dictated by the heights of Colonia Nova and Neufrestadt (and any other existing sims).
2. The Plan envisages an 18 sim Estate (when completed) with two clusters - a Northern Cluster and a Southern Cluster based around the current Colonia Nova and Neufrestadt sims respectively.
3. The two clusters are for topographical and other planning purposes. The plan should not be read as meaning that [i:rufe12ff]all[/i:rufe12ff] sims in the Northern or Southern Clusters should follow the same themes as CN and NFS. On the other hand, any sims with radically different themes (e.g. Star Wars sim) should have a buffer zone so that there isn't a jarring transition.
4. The plan is very flexible, it does not make any assumptions about which sims should be void or city sims or appropriate themes, except for a small number of sims within the plan where the topography of NFS (for example) or the potential expansion of CN dictates that the sim should be considered as an extension of CN or NFS.[/list:u:rufe12ff]
Moon Adamant brought three diagrams to the meeting which illustrate all of this information. Since my technical skills are sadly inadequate to post them here without too much faffing around, I'll ask Moon to post them here shortly so that the report above will make a little more sense.
I'd like to thank Moon, and the other members of the Commission, for their hard work and creativity in coming up with this plan. As I said at the meeting yesterday, democracy is messy and slow but so much more satisfying than the alternatives 
I think we did a pretty good job in putting together this plan in an open, collaborative fashion. I hope the RA will be able to approve it at its meeting on Sunday.
