Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the General Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Grand County board advances general-plan economic section and schedules Jan. 15 workshop to shape grants and action plan
Summary
Board members agreed to circulate a working draft of the county’s economic-development section before year-end, hold a Jan. 15 workshop (3–5 p.m.) to refine policy language, and create an action plan and subcommittees to prepare projects for upcoming competitive grants, including a $600,000 community opportunity grant.
The Grand County Economic Opportunity Advisory Board agreed to move forward with a working draft of the county’s economic-development section and scheduled a workshop on Jan. 15 to turn the draft into an actionable plan for grant-ready projects.
Forrest Rogers, board chair, said the draft circulated by staff is intended as a working document that the board would review and edit before a fuller discussion in January. "We've got an action plan that's to review documents, provide feedback, meet here if the space is available on the fifteenth, 3 to 5," Rogers said, outlining next steps for document review and a working session.
The board discussed separating communication materials from policy language: the presentation would be a public-facing tool while the general-plan text would supply the policy wording to be included in the county general plan. Ben Alter, the county’s assistant economic development director, said staff aim to distribute the draft to board members for review before the end of the year so the January meeting can focus on substantive feedback.
Members stressed producing an action plan alongside — or immediately after — the policy draft. A board member described the action plan as “what we’re gonna go after ... what we wanna do in 2025,” and proposed creating subcommittees to focus on topics raised in the Trail to Tomorrow strategy such as career and technical education and housing. Those subcommittees would help identify and prepare specific projects for competitive grants.
Board members also discussed timeline and resourcing tied to grant cycles. One member noted the county’s competitive "community's opportunity" grant, described in the meeting as a $600,000 competitive award, and urged that project identification and due diligence begin early so applications are ready when funding windows open.
The board agreed on the next concrete steps: staff will circulate the working draft for comment, members will provide written feedback, and the board will hold a workshop on Jan. 15 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. to refine language and link the general-plan section to a near-term action plan oriented toward the county’s grant priorities. If space is not available in the county office, the workshop may be held online.
The board said it will also consider a smaller working-group meeting in early January to dig into detailed edits before the full workshop. The discussion ends with the board set to reconvene in January with the goal of producing a draft that can be presented to the county commission for further consideration.
