Kenton County’s comprehensive plan is being rewritten completely for the first time since 1972. The project, expected to take up to two years to complete, is designed to provide guidance for the county’s growth over the next 20 years.
"Direction 2030: Your Voice, Your Choice" is a community planning initiative centered on public input – citizen ideas and citizen opinions. It will help create the new Kenton County comprehensive plan reflecting existing and anticipated trends in population, transportation, business, and education.
Kenton County citizens are urged to attend the ongoing series of public forums that will facilitate these discussions. Citizens are also encouraged to stay abreast of ongoing Direction 2030 progress by checking the project website: Direction2030.org.
“Since the county’s first comprehensive plan was completed in 1972, only updates have been made,” said Keith Logsdon, AICP, deputy director for long-range planning. “Over the past twenty years or so, new trends have developed in how people want to live and travel, how they want to spend their leisure time and make economic choices, and those trends make it important to take a new look at our community.”
Members of the Kenton County Planning Commission and NKAPC staff held the first of these public forums on October 26 at Dixie Heights High School. Approximately 60 citizens from across Kenton County attended and discussed how or if they believe these trends are having an impact on their lives.
The second of these initial meetings is set for November 17 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Kenton County Agricultural Extension Office. The third meeting will take place on November 29 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at Calvary Baptist Church in Latonia; and, the fourth is set for December 6 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at Piner Elementary School. The topic for these forums will be the same as for the first, giving citizens from across Kenton County an opportunity to express themselves.
The second round of four meetings will be held in January through March, 2012. The third round is projected from April through June; and, the fourth and final round in July and August. Each round will look at opinions and ideas expressed during earlier sessions and distill them to the point where public goals and objectives emerge.
“Strong public engagement will make the plan well-founded and prepare our community for the challenges of the next 20 years,” Logsdon said.
For a full description of each of the four rounds of meetings, check out the Direction 2030 website.
As for what the outcome of this process will be, Logsdon says, “I don’t know if that question can be answered yet because we are just beginning the public engagement process. Our current challenge is to encourage and attain sufficient public input.”