York County consultants report survey results, plan town halls as comprehensive-plan outreach continues

Keith Marvin, of Marvin Planning Consultants, told the York County Board that the county’s comprehensive-plan update is still a draft and that consultants will continue revising it as they collect more public input. Marvin said consultants had launched an online public survey on SurveyMonkey and were using the results together with upcoming town-hall meetings and focus groups to shape plan chapters.

The presentation matters because the comprehensive plan will guide long-term land-use, transportation and economic development policy across York County, and commissioners pressed consultants on outreach methods and timing after the survey went live before it had been reviewed by the board.

“What you’ve got in front of you is a draft,” Marvin said, emphasizing that the document will be amended as more information arrives. John Shepherd, also of Marvin Planning Consultants, said the team had received 65 survey responses and reported a 90% completion rate: “We’re now up to 65 surveys, and we’ve got a completed rate of 58.”

Board members asked why the survey was published before the board had reviewed the questions. Consultants apologized for the premature launch and said the mistake was theirs. They proposed a multi-part outreach strategy: work with state planning contacts to boost distribution, enlist local partners in Henderson and other towns, post physical notices and postcards, add posters countywide, use a QR code link to the survey, and hold multiple town-hall meetings across the county in late May or early June as a final push before closing the survey.

Consultants described their typical town-hall approach: facilitated small-group discussions with tailored questions for different stakeholder groups (for example, housing stakeholders, producers, and economic-development participants). They said the survey would be left open through the town halls and for a short time afterward so in-person participants could complete it, and that they would provide the board with their standard town-hall questions in advance so commissioners could suggest edits.

Board members and consultants discussed turnout uncertainty and outreach limits. Consultants cited examples from other counties — Harlan County had 206 responses after a postcard push; other counties saw far fewer — and warned that turnout can range from single digits to dozens. Commissioners noted local news coverage has diminished since media consolidation, making paid postcards and partner outreach more important.

On data quality, consultants described steps to reduce automated or duplicate responses in SurveyMonkey: limiting submissions by IP address and spot-checking clustered answers for likely duplicates. They said survey results would be treated as one input among town halls, focus groups and other data sources rather than a statistically random sample.

Consultants also described the scope of the draft: roughly 13–14 chapters already under preparation, with land use, energy, transportation and natural-resources material still to come. They said they would add more localized data after consulting with county staff and state contacts and that draft chapters would be posted to the project website once the board agreed to a public release schedule.

Nathan (county staff) was assigned to coordinate town-hall logistics and locations; consultants said they would supply posters and a postcard mock-up for the board to review. Commissioners requested at least a month to review draft questions and the draft plan chapters; consultants agreed to provide digital materials for internal review and asked that drafts remain internal until consolidated edits are returned.

At the meeting’s close a motion to continue work on the plan and related outreach moved forward and passed by roll call; the board directed staff and the consultants to set town-hall dates, finalize outreach materials and return with a follow-up report at the next meeting.

The board did not take a final vote on plan content at the meeting. Next steps recorded in the discussion were: consultants to send the survey link and proposed town-hall questions to board members, Nathan to begin securing venues for multiple town halls across York County, and consultants to coordinate outreach with state planning contacts and local partners in Henderson.