FIRM OVERVIEW
Vismor, Ricketson and Associates, Inc., formerly Vismor, McGill, and Bell, Inc. is a relatively small consulting firm providing since 1969, professional planning and zoning services principally within the states of South Carolina and Georgia. The firm specializes in eight basic areas: (1) comprehensive planning, (2) zoning and land development regulations, (3) community facilities planning, (4) market research and feasibility studies, (5) economic development, (6) annexation, (7) strategic planning and (8) housing studies. Within each, a broad and comprehensive range of expertise is available. Principal among our clients are cities, counties, regions, districts, states, and other public entities, as well as the private sector, which comprises approximately one-fourth of our clientele. Working with both groups provides us with a unique understanding of the relationships between the two. Personal involvement by the principals of our firm enables us to establish close personal working relationships with our clients. This is the foundation of our reputation for quality work and satisfaction, which we continually strive to attain. It accounts in large measure for our record of repeat business.
MEET THE KEY PERSONNEL
The staff is headed by Dan C. Vismor, Jr., President and founder of the company. Vismor has more than 40 years of hands-on planning experience. He is a native of Atlanta, holds a Bachelor's degree in sociology from East Carolina University and a Master's degree in City Planning from Georgia Tech. He has been active in the American Planning Association (APA) since its formation in 1968, and has served as the president of the South Carolina Chapter. He is also a charter member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP), is former Chairman of Richland County Planning Commission, has lectured on planning, and presented "expert testimony" in court cases. In 2000, he received the Distinguished Planner Award from the South Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Planners. Prior to becoming a consultant in 1969, he served four years with the South Carolina State Development Board, two years as Chief Planner with the Western North Carolina Regional Planning Commission, and two years with the City of Atlanta. Vismor, not only assumes responsibility for all projects, but is the principal author and technician for most.
Jeff Ricketson has been a full partner and Vice-President of the company since 2000. A native of Georgia also, Jeff holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida and a Master's Degree in City Planning from Georgia Tech. He is a member of the American Institute of Planners and the Georgia Chapter of the American Planning Association. Jeff has 22 years of planning experience in the public sector, with 11 of those years being in Anderson, South Carolina as Planning Division Director for Anderson County. As a former county planning director, Jeff has extensive experience in writing and implementing plans and ordinances. He also served as manager of Advance Planning and Research for the Nashville Metropolitan Planning Commission in Tennessee. In addition to serving in local government planning, Jeff has served as a planning director for two regional planning agencies in Georgia: the CSRA Regional Commission and the Fort Stewart Growth Management Partnership. In both agencies, he worked extensively with small and medium size communities in drafting plans and ordinances to guide growth and development. In the latter, he helped local communities plan for impacts of growth at a major military installation.
Additionally, our firm has formal associations with a number of firms in related fields such as industrial development, civil engineering, architecture, and landscape architecture. These associations include General Engineering Laboratories Inc., Charleston, SC; The Miley Company, Florence, S.C., water and sewer engineers; Campo Engineering, Inc., Rock Hill, S.C., transportation planners; and Robert Marvin and Associates, Walterboro, S.C., landscape architects. These associations allow us to maintain a small core staff, while enabling us to offer more complete planning services where needed.
EXPERIENCE, CAPABILITY AND REFERENCES
Our firm has prepared more than 60 local land use and development ordinances, principally in South Carolina. Perhaps, more importantly is our firm's experience in administering what we have written. Without the experience of administering an ordinance or assisting in the implementation of a plan, there is no way to know if what has been conceived is practical, clearly definable from an administrative standpoint, and will accomplish the objectives for which it is intended. For nearly 10 years, Dan Vismor, President of the firm, advised the cities of Myrtle Beach and Georgetown on administrative matters. For approximately 15 years, he advised the City of Greenwood and Greenwood County, and has served on administrative retainer for many cities and counties in which the company has developed ordinances, including Holly Hill, Marion, Mullins, Irmo, Bennettsville and Abbeville, and the Counties of Aiken, Anderson, Fairfield, Colleton, Orangeburg, Kershaw, and York. He also served on the Richland County Planning Commission for eight years, two as Chairman, fully engaged in the administration of land use regulations in one of South Carolina's larger counties.