Staff outlines "Montgomery Matters" outreach, village outreach planned for spring 2025

Planning staff presented a summary of Montgomery Matters engagement during the Dec. 11 meeting, describing outreach methods, response numbers and next steps for the county—s comprehensive-plan update.

The presentation said staff and consultants conducted 10 stakeholder meetings, met with more than 71 stakeholders, and captured extensive input through open houses and online tools. Staff reported a high volume of participation: they cited roughly 730 comments from the June open house, over 300 unique map comments on the project mapping tool, and more than 1,000 survey responses (staff summarized a goal of 1,000 responses and reported receiving 1,007 in one part of the presentation). Major themes identified from engagement included environmental resources (parks, trails, water/tributary protection), housing and affordability, healthcare access, and regional cooperation with municipalities, colleges and nonprofit service providers.

Staff said next steps include developing draft goals from the engagement data, publishing those goals alongside an online survey for additional comment, and starting village-specific outreach in spring 2025. EPR has been contracted to assist with village plans and will also lead the parks and recreation master plan; staff said coordinating those processes will allow cross-promotion of engagement opportunities. Hopkins (planning director) emphasized staff will define objective criteria for what constitutes a village before outreach begins.

The planning director also said county staff are compiling a "state of the county" report as an appendix to the comp plan and that staff will provide direct links to the online materials for commissioners and the public. Hopkins invited commissioners and residents to use the Montgomery Matters webpage and to sign up for updates to receive notices of upcoming surveys and open houses.