Ashland County planning committee sets March schedule, prepares to engage regional planners for comprehensive plan update

The Ashland County Planning Committee agreed Thursday to prepare a short summary of priorities, hold a planning-session on March 19 and invite a Northwest Regional Planning representative to brief the full county board as the county moves to update its comprehensive plan.

The action follows committee discussion about timing, outreach and funding for a planning update that committee members said should rely on both technical data and public input. Planning Committee Chair Dan Wentz said he would draft a one-page summary of the county's priorities with staff help from Lisa Radke and circulate it to committee members for the March 19 meeting, when members will propose how to divide responsibility for sections of the plan.

The committee also agreed that the county board should invite a Northwest Regional Planning representative — identified in the meeting as "Sheldon" — to present at the county board meeting on March 26 so the board can hear the proposed process and timelines if the board hires the firm. Committee members said that step is important because the county cannot formally hire regional planners or sign grant paperwork tied to a consultant until the county board takes action; committee members noted the county’s CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) planning application window opens after the March 26 meeting.

"We're going to be spending a minimum of $25,000 and a maximum of $75,000," Ross Gerber said during discussion of likely contract costs, a range several committee members referenced while weighing the scope of outside help. Committee members also noted a broader state limit on planning grants was discussed during the meeting.

Members debated how best to combine technical background data with public input. Several said the county should compile and update baseline data from the 2016 plan, then collect stakeholder input through a mix of town- and committee-level conversations and a short public survey. County staff Erica (last name not specified in the transcript) told the committee that the county’s eligibility for the planning grant depends on a low-to-moderate-income (LMI) measure; staff said four municipalities — City of Ashland, Butternut, Mellon and Sanborn — were above the 51% threshold used in the most recent dataset the county relied on for eligibility.

Committee members agreed to ask committee chairs and county liaisons to solicit input from operational departments and local boards later in the process, and to use committee and town-board meetings to gather geographically representative feedback. Members discussed using a hybrid meeting schedule (in-person plus Zoom) to reduce travel burdens and to post notices in the county’s three legally required locations and on the county website.

The committee also discussed internal organization of the plan update: members proposed assigning each county board member on the planning committee responsibility for one or two plan elements (for example, housing, transportation, natural resources) and invited other county board members to work with those leads on subject-specific subgroups. Dan Wentz said he will update the county board with a short planning-committee report at each county board meeting to keep the full board informed.

No final contract with Northwest Regional Planning was approved at the meeting. Committee members agreed on next steps: draft the one-page priorities summary, schedule the March 19 planning committee meeting at 1 p.m., and have the county board consider inviting Northwest Regional Planning to present on March 26. Committee members also discussed broader outreach to town boards and commissions and the timing of detailed data collection once a consultant is on board.

"If Sheldon was here or on Zoom, then in that initial conversation, people could talk about the things that are important to them or less important," Pat Kinney said, describing the benefit of hearing the regional planner's view early in the process.

The committee repeatedly emphasized that the plan-update work should balance data-driven background analysis with direct input from residents, service providers and town boards, and that the county needs a way to track implementation and progress so the plan does not become "a document that sits on a shelf," as Pat Kinney put it.

The committee set its next planning meeting for Wednesday, March 19 at 1:00 p.m. and agreed to a March 26 county board briefing about the process if the board places it on its agenda. The committee did not take any hiring or contracting action and did not adopt a final scope for outside consultants during the meeting.