Crawford County officials review comprehensive-plan survey, outline zoning options and next steps on wind and solar

County planning staff updated the Crawford County Commission on the county'wide comprehensive-plan survey and on preliminary zoning proposals for wind and solar at the commission's May 2025 meeting.

The survey mailings have been sent to 11,952 registered addresses in the county and, as of the meeting, the county had received about 1,014 online responses; staff said the goal is 10,000 total responses with a decision on any cutoff to be made after early July. "We're hoping to get 10,000 total responses," said Joshua Alvin, a county staff member overseeing the survey and outreach. Alvin said mailers were sent with expedited shipping, duplicates and nonresponsive addresses had been removed, and the average time to complete the survey was about 12 minutes.

The county's planning lead told commissioners a public work session with the Planning and Zoning board is planned next week (open to the public but not for public comment) and that a fuller update to the commission will follow after July. Alvin said fall public hearings are expected in September, October or November if the survey schedule holds. "When we have a idea of how the mailers are working, we can make a date definite for the ending of the survey," Alvin said.

Why it matters: the county is using survey results to shape its comprehensive plan and proposed zoning changes that would govern where and how wind turbines and solar farms can be sited.…