COUDERSPORT — Potter County officials are embracing the development of a three-county comprehensive plan that will shape the direction of programs and efforts over the next decade.
During a recent commissioners’ meeting held in Coudersport, county planning/GIS department director Will Hunt discussed changes to the structure of the new plan that will make it a more useful tool for county officials going forward.
“We’re developing what’s basically a guidebook for the governing body to use for the next ten years. It will identify issues and where efforts should be focused,” Hunt said. “It’s also a good guide for the planning commission on things like zoning, land use, housing and water resources.”
The last time a comprehensive plan was adopted was in 2005. A lot of things have changed in Potter County since then. Hunt stated that the energy sector did not have its own section and that much of the document included information on Adelphia and related businesses, infrastructure and projects.
“This will be a lot different than the older ones. The last plan was 250 pages, but contained only about ten pages of guidance. The new plan should be between 80 and 100 pages,” Hunt said.
The other change is that this new county plan is actually a three-county plan, including McKean and Cameron in the mix with Potter. While a section of the plan will be focused on regional issues, efforts and initiatives, each county will have 25-30 pages of the document specifically applying to its own situation.
A large part of why the new document will be smaller, and therefore more easily used in everyday applications, is that it will not include all of the research, tables and data that were used in the decision-making process. That information will still be readily available for anyone interested in viewing it, but it will be kept separate to make the document more user-friendly.
“Our ultimate goal is to have a useful document. There will be supporting documents that show how we came to the conclusions we did, but that won’t be included in the plan itself,” Hunt stated.
Hunt did state that, while the older plan was cumbersome and difficult to use, the county did reach a number of the goals outlined in it, such as development of GIS capabilities.
“A lot of these goals have been met even though the plan sat on a shelf. Some of those goals were so needed that the county moved in that direction without the use of the document. We will take those things that were finished and go toward the next step in the new plan,” Hunt said.
All three counties have designated officials working on the development of the new comprehensive plans, and an action timeline has been developed to ensure goals are hit as it comes time to finalize the new document.
The counties are using a plan developed by Dauphin County as a template, and a number of agencies in each county are contributing to the project.
A five-year Hazard Mitigation Plan is also being developed at this time, and the information from that plan is being discussed and will be included in the comprehensive plan as is appropriate.
“This will be inclusive, it will address local issues and it will be usable,” Hunt said.
Several events, including a public workshop meeting, open house and focus groups, are planned to gather input from residents and community organizers across the county.
