by Neil Richard
The Department of Economic Development has been hosting Town Halls in each voting district over the past two weeks, beginning with the James Madison District on December 6th. That Town Hall was followed by an At-Large Town Hall on December 10th and the Dahlgren District on December 11th. The last Town Hall, for the Shiloh District, is to be held on December 17th at 6:30pm at the Fire Department's Company 1 building.
The purpose of these Town Halls is to gather feedback from residents regarding the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan. For those residents that are unable to attend a Town Hall, the County has provided a survey in the news section of their website. During the December 14th Town Hall, hosted by Supervisor Jeff Bueche, there was a brief presentation on how and why the plan was created. Ryan Gandy, Director of Economic Development, gave the presentation with Annie Cupka, Grant Writer, and Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, giving a few extra points along the way.
After the short presentation, the floor was opened for public comment from the small audience of about ten to fifteen people. The questions asked, answers given, and comments made were all productive and amiable in nature. That's not to say that the questions were easy as some of them challenged Gandy and the rest on how they arrived at their plan and what the path forward was going to be.
For those that have not read the draft plan, its purpose is to develop a guideline for the County to make smart development decisions and to encourage different sources of revenue for the County all while preserving the rural and historical aspects. All of this is being driven by the impending increase in traffic because of the major construction projects on Interstate 95 and the new Nice Bridge. Without doing an in depth analysis of the plan, here are a few highlights from the Town Hall and the applicable portions of the draft Strategic Plan.
A few key resources were either missing or only mentioned in the draft plan. In addition to the schools being missing, emergency services and the Service Authority were also missing. Dr. Young clarified these absences a bit at the beginning of the meeting and later in the evening. First, he said the school system was working on their own strategic plan. Second, both the schools and the Service Authority were their own separate entity. So even though the Service Authority was mentioned in the draft plan, and even though the schools and emergency services are vital to the success of the plan, the primary focus of the Economic Development Strategic Plan was economic development. Young said that these services would be impacted by any economic growth but if everything was included in the strategic plan, it would be too complex and too much of a burden to read.
The biggest news from the meeting came from Bueche who alluded to a plan in the works to bring a major healthcare provider to the County. Although he wasn't privy to all the details and couldn't share all of what he did know, it did sound like a promising development.
Overall, this draft Strategic Plan is one of many steps forward the County has been making. An updated Comprehensive Plan, new zoning ordinances, and other updated documents are either in progress or complete. By looking towards the future, the County is finally taking its proverbial head out of the sand and aiming to make intelligent decisions on growth. And even though growth is inevitable, this plan aims to control it in a way that is best for the residents now and into the future.
The Department of Economic Development has been hosting Town Halls in each voting district over the past two weeks, beginning with the James Madison District on December 6th. That Town Hall was followed by an At-Large Town Hall on December 10th and the Dahlgren District on December 11th. The last Town Hall, for the Shiloh District, is to be held on December 17th at 6:30pm at the Fire Department's Company 1 building.
The purpose of these Town Halls is to gather feedback from residents regarding the draft Economic Development Strategic Plan. For those residents that are unable to attend a Town Hall, the County has provided a survey in the news section of their website. During the December 14th Town Hall, hosted by Supervisor Jeff Bueche, there was a brief presentation on how and why the plan was created. Ryan Gandy, Director of Economic Development, gave the presentation with Annie Cupka, Grant Writer, and Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, giving a few extra points along the way.
After the short presentation, the floor was opened for public comment from the small audience of about ten to fifteen people. The questions asked, answers given, and comments made were all productive and amiable in nature. That's not to say that the questions were easy as some of them challenged Gandy and the rest on how they arrived at their plan and what the path forward was going to be.
For those that have not read the draft plan, its purpose is to develop a guideline for the County to make smart development decisions and to encourage different sources of revenue for the County all while preserving the rural and historical aspects. All of this is being driven by the impending increase in traffic because of the major construction projects on Interstate 95 and the new Nice Bridge. Without doing an in depth analysis of the plan, here are a few highlights from the Town Hall and the applicable portions of the draft Strategic Plan.
- The Mission Statement includes "rural character." It was mentioned that at previous Town Halls, residents wanted to know how that was defined. No clear definition was given.
- "Appendix A" is mentioned but not included in the draft plan.
- There are six priorities listed in the draft plan but they are not listed in any particular order. Although it may be easy for someone to assume the County feels "Healthcare" is lowest on the list of priorities because it is listed last, that's not the case. The overall feeling during the Town Hall is that all six topics are equally important as each other.
- Two of the priorities list a desire to "stunt telecommuting." Dr. Young clarified that it was a typo and it should read "stunt commuting." He further clarified that this was specifically directed towards those individuals that work in King George but live elsewhere. He said the desire was to make King George attractive enough for those individuals to live in the County and thus spend more of their money here.
- It was noted that under the Tourism and Recreation section, there was no agritourism listed. It was also noted that the desire to "Foster the continued expansion of all of the County's museums." was listed twice.
- It was noted that the school system was not mentioned in the Strategic Plan even though it would be a crucial point of it being successful. This led to a lengthy discussion on education in the County, including primary grades, secondary grades, post-secondary education, and vocational courses.
- There was some discussion and debate over the definition of affordable housing and how best to reflect the desired state of more housing options for those at various income levels. Just as different people have different definitions of "rural," the same can be said for "affordable housing."
A few key resources were either missing or only mentioned in the draft plan. In addition to the schools being missing, emergency services and the Service Authority were also missing. Dr. Young clarified these absences a bit at the beginning of the meeting and later in the evening. First, he said the school system was working on their own strategic plan. Second, both the schools and the Service Authority were their own separate entity. So even though the Service Authority was mentioned in the draft plan, and even though the schools and emergency services are vital to the success of the plan, the primary focus of the Economic Development Strategic Plan was economic development. Young said that these services would be impacted by any economic growth but if everything was included in the strategic plan, it would be too complex and too much of a burden to read.
The biggest news from the meeting came from Bueche who alluded to a plan in the works to bring a major healthcare provider to the County. Although he wasn't privy to all the details and couldn't share all of what he did know, it did sound like a promising development.
Overall, this draft Strategic Plan is one of many steps forward the County has been making. An updated Comprehensive Plan, new zoning ordinances, and other updated documents are either in progress or complete. By looking towards the future, the County is finally taking its proverbial head out of the sand and aiming to make intelligent decisions on growth. And even though growth is inevitable, this plan aims to control it in a way that is best for the residents now and into the future.
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