After a year and a half-long, countywide planning effort, the draft CONNECT Clark County Comprehensive Plan has been presented to the community. CONNECT Clark County was launched in the fall of 2016. At the core of this planning work was a robust public engagement process including two rounds of public workshops and the culminating Open House. Over 700 people participated in this process, and the Project Team collected approximately 2,200 public comments. These engagement efforts helped produce a draft plan which is both aspirational and realistic.
Clark County has experienced significant challenges in the past decades, including a loss of population (especially young people), a decline in incomes, and job losses in several key sectors of the economy. But the planning process successfully tapped into ideas about how the community can build off of its assets, including a strategic location, good infrastructure, a desirable “small town” lifestyle, and a number of key efforts to attract business, residents and visitors that are already underway.
The Plan brings different entities together across jurisdictions, and addresses a range of topics, such as encouraging urban infill, promoting workforce development and developing entertainment and recreational amenities to improve quality of life.
The public can continue to view and comment on posters from the Open House throughout the month of January as the posters circulate throughout the County. The CONNECT Clark County Comprehensive Plan is expected to be finalized in February 2018. Key entities in the County who will be responsible for implementing the recommendations in the Plan are already starting to work together, and the CONNECT Clark County planning process has generated renewed community optimism and excitement for “what’s next” in Clark County.
Read what Springfield News-Sun said about the draft plan:
