With town hall meetings complete, Lee County officials moving forward with master plan work

By: Amy Weaver Staff Writer | OANow.com
Published: March 09, 2009

People who live and work in Lee County came out and spoke their minds at five town hall meetings last week, just as county officials had hoped.
“They gave us some really good input for what citizens want to see in the county in the future and things they are concerned about,” said Wendy Swann, the county’s government relations coordinator.
Information provided by those at the meetings will be used to develop the county’s first master plan, a blue-print to deal with impending growth.
Officials had planned for 100 people to attend each meeting, but all fell short of that goal. The meeting in Beulah had the highest attendance, with 50 people, Swann said.
“This is the first time we’ve ever done anything like this,” she said. “So, I’m happy with the participation we did get.”
Now, it’s up to Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood and American Community Planning to compile all the public input, Swann said. Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood is the firm hired by the Lee County Commission to assist the newly formed Lee County Planning Commission with developing a master plan. ACP is a consultant firm working with Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood.
In the coming weeks, Swann said the two firms will organize all the public input gathered from the visual preference surveys and small group discussions into “goals and recommendations.” They will also use information Swann received from people via e-mail or the project Web site.
In May, there will be another series of town hall meetings where the firms will present the goals and recommendations to the public for prioritization, Swann said. Information will be organized by categories such as land use, transportation, community facilities, open space and recreation, housing, county appearance, infrastructure and economic development.
“We’re not done with the citizens yet,” she said.
After those meetings, the planning commission will continue to work with Goodwyn, Mills & Cawood before presenting a final draft to the county commission. Swann said the plan development process is still on schedule to be completed by next January.
It’s not too late
If you missed any of the town hall meetings last week, it’s not too late to share your input. Wendy Swann is still accepting ideas and concerns about the future of Lee County via e-mail at wswann@leeco.us or through www.leeco.us/masterplan/ for the next two weeks.