County wants response to comp plan update survey

Adair County leaders are looking to the future and want feedback from as many people as possible to assist them with the process.

The board of supervisors approved a comprehensive plan update in July. A survey is available at a link available at the Adair County Auditor’s Office website, or by using the QR Code with this story. It is also available in print form. Responses are due by Sept. 30.

Southern Iowa Council of Governments has been contracted to assist the county with the comprehensive plan update.

“What we’re trying to do is address future planning needs for the next 20 years or so for the rural part of the county. We’re talking mostly outside of our city limits of towns; however, anybody who has an interest in the county can fill it out. As long as you care about Adair County you can be a part of it,” SICOG Senior Planner Jeremy Rounds said. “What we’re trying to do is get a wide range of ideas and perspectives on various needs relating to the various needs of the county.”

According to Iowa State University Extension, a comprehensive plan is a document designed to guide the future actions of a city or county. It presents a vision for the future with long-range goals and objectives for all activities that affect local government. Rounds said Adair County’s comprehensive plan will likely pertain to agriculture, natural resources, housing, wind turbines and recreation, such as lakes and trails. He has a goal of obtaining over 200 responses to the survey.

Moving forward, a steering committee created for the plan update will meet on a few different occasions to talk about survey results and various topics that can be included in the plan. The plan will be drafted as this process goes on, containing charts, tables and various information. A draft plan will be shown to the committee, then the board of supervisors for approval. Rounds expects the whole process to be finished sometime next summer.

“There will be other ways down the road that the public will be able to be engaged with this process, but the survey is the easiest way to do that. It’s a way to be anonymous but also give your feedback on the topics we raise. We’re hoping everyone will take time to do a good job on the survey and be thoughtful for their answers,” Rounds said. “We know that in the future current supervisors will go off the board and new ones will come on. The new ones may or may not follow the same ideas the current ones have. In part, the plan is there to bridge that gap to say that these are the things people care about now. Hopefully in five years those will still be the same things people care about.”

There is also an opportunity for survey participants to give more information not addressed by the survey or to give their contact information if they want to become more involved with the plan update as the process goes on.