Coconino County planning panel recommends Envision 2045 comprehensive plan update to supervisors

The Coconino County Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously Sept. 24 to recommend that the Board of Supervisors adopt the county's complete comprehensive-plan update, Envision 2045.

The commission's recommendation follows a months-long public outreach process staff said reached thousands of people; staff and the county's advisory group asked the commission to forward the draft with a set of targeted edits recorded in the staff packet.

The updated plan replaces the county's 2015 plan and rearranges the document around three priorities: maintaining a rural lifestyle and managing growth, protecting the natural environment, and expanding community services and resilience. Melissa Shaw, the county's long-range planner, told commissioners the update adds new goals and implementation items, including a countywide housing needs assessment, a multimodal connectivity master plan, and steps to support forest fuels reduction and sustainable energy policies.

Shaw summarized outreach results that informed the draft: an initial scoping period in 2023, 29 focus groups, 400 responses to a statistically valid countywide telephone survey, and hundreds of in-person and online engagement events. She also told the commission that the draft collects roughly 50 implementation measures and marks 11 of them as high priority for initiation within one to two years, including seeking grants for a county resilience/sustainability plan and coordination on transportation-safety projects.

At the joint work sessions staff and commissioners discussed several wording and emphasis items. The packet includes a table of recommended changes (Attachment A) that the commission adopted as part of its motion. One staff-proposed edit clarifies terminology around Indigenous peoples and suggests a short paragraph in the introduction noting the influence of recent events (COVID-19, the Navajo Generating Station closure, drought, and wildfires) on county economy and demographics.

Commissioners debated adding plant-management coordination to the high-priority list. Commissioner Trish Best urged elevating the county's effort to coordinate invasive- and native-plant programs with partners; other commissioners expressed differing priorities but the motion to forward the draft with Attachment A passed unanimously. Vice Chair Wilson then called for the item to be reviewed by the Board of Supervisors.

The commission's recommendation now goes to the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing scheduled later this fall. If the board adopts the plan it becomes the county's guiding policy document and frames future zoning and capital-investment actions.