Planning District Commissions (PDCs) are voluntary associations of local governments that provide a variety of technical and programmatic assistance to these localities relating to issues of regional significance. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission (HRPDC) is one of 21 Planning District Commissions in the Commonwealth of Virginia and represented seventeen local governments in southeastern Virginia.
They are intended to “foster intergovernmental cooperation by bringing together local elected and appointed officials and involved citizens to discuss common needs and determine solutions to regional issues."
Succinctly, PDCs encourage and facilitate local government cooperation and state-local cooperation in addressing on a regional basis issues of greater than local significance.
In Virginia, PDCs are political subdivisions of the Commonwealth chartered under the Virginia Code by the local governments of each planning district. As such they are a creation of local government encouraged by the state.
They can also be called Regional Councils.