Dearborn County Comprehensive
Plan First Meeting (Reorganization) Notes
The Dearborn County Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee
met for about 90 minutes on October 30th in the County
Administration Building. Nearly all the members were present. Mark McCormack,
Planning Director, lead the meeting along with his staff. Commissioner Kevin
Lynch, as he usually does, asked to speak at the beginning of the meeting. He
welcomed the community leaders in the room and thanked them for coming, and
taking ownership in the process. He noted that we all have visions of the
future that reflect our own aspirations and said that his mantra is: “together we can make Dearborn
County a better place.”
McCormack introduced the process of amending a comprehensive
plan for building a better community. This plan has not been amended or revised
since 2009. The advisory committee has many new members replacing the original
committee and they have representation from all the communities in the county. (Approximately
50 participants for a county of 50,000 people.)
A comprehensive plan is:
A long range vision for the community
Provides context for making public policy decisions and
investments
An assessment of community needs
A statement of community values, goals, and objectives
A blueprint for the community’s long rage physical
development plans
A “living document”- one that must be flexible enpugh to
respond to changing circumstances yet rigid enough to be meaningful
McCormack also pointed out the differences between
Comprehensive Plans and Zoning.
Zoning documents are updated as necessary and specific in
nature. They are regulatory documents that deremine what can be built where.
They are used as primary tools to evaluate development proposals. They often
affect taxes or tax rates as development is approved. They are NOT future
oriented- are often reactive to current conditions. If they are too
restrictive, they can involve takings.
Comprehensive Plans are more general and advisory in nature.
They must be referenced COLLECTIVELY to be effective and retain values. They
are used in conjunction with other tools to review development proposals and
are used to update and address inconsistencies in regulatory texts and tools.
In fact- state code requires that a comprehensive plan be
updated to be effective. It states that the Plan Commission is responsible for
the preparation of the Comp Plan. The Plan Commission members provide
direction, assist in the facilitation of group sessions, and engage members of
the community, the Committee and the County Commissioners.
The advisory committee members’ roles are to provide input
throughout the planning process, author
the goals and objectives relevant to the plan’s elements, abd strive for
consensus on each issue.
McCormack STRESSED the expectations for the advisory
committee members:
Attend all scheduled committee meetings. Continuity of
participants is extremely important as we move through the process the next few
months
Notify the Plan Commission staff prior to any meeting if
unable to attend and BE ON TIME!
Come to the meetings prepared to discuss the agenda topic.
You will receive background information on each topic prior to the meetings to
review.
SPREAD THE WORD- Share our work and encourage friends,
family, neighbors and co-workers to attend the public workshops to provide
their input.
Respect other committee members’ opinions and viewpoints and
allow one another equal time.
Do not over talk, sidebar or interrupt while another member
has the floor.
Everyone is to actively contribute with their best, candid
ideas and suggestions.
NO “SILENT DISAGREEMENT” – silences is agreement
Use facts and data, not emotion, ( although it is OK to
express your feelings)
When formulation is insufficient, will defer decision and
clearly state next steps to decide
Everyone owns the outcome
Once a decision is made it is made. We will reopen a
decision only when there is a compelling reason to do so
Listen and pay attention.
McCormack went on to talk about the contents of eth current
plan and how we will be breaking some elements out of the plan separately now
to cover them better. Those include Legal framework, history and public
involvement, environment and natural resources, thoroughfare plans, community
centers (includes recreational, cultural opportunities and historic sites),
economic development and project listings.
He gave a proposed timeline for the comp plan and includes 2
public workshops in the late winter to early spring of 2014. The final Plan
hearings will be in September of 2014, allowing about 11 months to complete the process.
Advisory Committee members were asked two questions about
the county. Both were related to describing how we see the county and how others
see us and what we would change about the county. A lively discussion was held
on these items for about 30 minutes with planning staff taking notes. Two more
questions will follow in member emails as we ran out of time this evening.
Two items brought up for information from the Committee:
There is a public meeting SEPARATE from the comp plan on
visioning that essentially includes all the elected and appointed officials in
the county, cities, and towns. It is on Nov 6 at 6 PM at IVY Tech Riverfront Campus
4th floor Business Conference center. The public can attend to watch
this process. It will center more on economic issues, outdoor activities, and
statistically based items.
There is also a REGIONAL airport in Batesville at the old
Hillenbrand airport site that was privately purchased. It is on Huntersville
Road and they handle corporate jets and aviation maintenance there. Someone
mentioned Gramman ( sp?) trucking as the owners.
The meeting adjourned at 8:35 PM and members chatted with
each other before departing.
Christine Brauer Mueller, Citizen Advisory Committee member
Lawrenceburg Township
