Rutland, VT – The Orton Family Foundation is pleased to announce that it is making its CommunityViz® planning software available to communities at the new, reduced cost of $185, removing a significant barrier to access to communities across the country in need of effective planning tools and methods. To fulfill this commitment, the Foundation has entered into an agreement with Placeways, LLC—an independent company owned and operated by former Foundation employees—to provide ongoing distribution, maintenance and support of the software.
“The Foundation invented CommunityViz in the belief that giving people a way to visualize a common land use future is a critical first step toward creating livable and sustainable communities,” says William Shutkin, President and CEO of the Foundation. “Our partnership with Placeways will help promote the widespread use and continued vitality of this important planning tool while allowing the Foundation to focus our resources on select projects that put this bold proposition to the test.”
According to Lyman Orton, Founder and Chairman of the Foundation, the multi-year development of CommunityViz cost nearly $15 million dollars. “We made a philanthropic investment because we saw a need that was not being met by the commercial marketplace and wanted to help communities define and shape their futures,” Orton states. “We’ve now decided to essentially give CommunityViz away to speed up our mission of transforming land use planning.”
In November, 2004, the Foundation launched a major reorganization to position it to better serve small cities and towns grappling with the rapid changes brought about by growth and development pressures. The ongoing reorganization involves a strategic shift away from the Foundation’s previous focus on product development and dissemination toward a new emphasis on supporting communities engaged in challenging land use planning projects, among other new directions.
The Foundation will work with Placeways to apply CommunityViz, along with other planning support tools and methods, in projects throughout the Northeast and Rocky Mountain West. The Foundation intends to continue to support the maintenance, development and ongoing improvement of CommunityViz while working with partners to promote innovation—both technological and civic—in the land use planning field.
“The new CommunityViz model is about far more than a lower price,” says Doug Walker, Placeways’ President. “It’s about putting this powerful tool in the hands of those who can benefit from it most. We’re confident that removing barriers to access will energize and expand our user community, encouraging even more experimentation and collaboration than we’ve seen in the past. We’re extremely pleased to be taking on this vital role in the Foundation’s ongoing mission to support sustainable communities.”
To learn more and to find out how to order CommunityViz, please visit www.communityviz.org.