Community leaders gather for 10‐year planning meeting
Polk County leaders from the cities and county administration and concerned community leaders are working with the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission (NWGARC) to update the comprehensive plan for the next 10 years.
The planning enters its latest stages with the first gathering of stakeholders from the trio of Polk’s cities and the county administration, and they got a latest look at growth figures from regional commission officials for the next 50 years.
Gretchen Lugthart, community planner for the NWGARC, told stakeholders during the Feb. 4 meeting that Polk’s population trends are
expected to remain steady and low through the 2060s, likely only to increase by just 10,000 by the time that census is completed.
By comparison, Lugthart explained growth trends next door are going to be much greater in Paulding County, where by 2060 some 350,000 people are likely going to live within their borders.
In other words, Lugthart said, Polk isn’t expected to have the growth of the metro Atlanta area, and local officials can thus plan accordingly for the future.
What mattered now for Polk County is assessing where previous plans ended up, and what needs addressing in the coming decade to make improvements.
Barnett Chitwood, who is heading up planning efforts for Polk through the NWGARC, guided the stakeholders through an exercise to help gauge what strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats faced each entity.
The cities of Cedartown and Rockmart, along with Polk County officials, all pointed toward assets like the Silver Comet Trail, facilities and natural resources as areas of strength and opportunity. Each had different examples of where local governments were falling short - from community involvement to lack of use of some facilities and funding opportunities, to name a few.
Aragon, however, provided a dismal roll call of needed improvements. Lack of commercial growth, a declining population and even involvement in the planning session itself were among the listed items.
In fact, the only representatives at the meeting for the city of Aragon were former Mayor Ken Suffridge and his wife Lou, and Editor Kevin Myrick, who Suffridge had included on the list of stakeholders prior to the end of his term in December 2015.
Chitwood gave several reasons why planning is important, providing a guidebook for changing local governments and to have goals to strive to complete to show progress to local taxpayers.
It also allows local governments to keep their Qualified Legal Government status, required to ensure eligibility for grants, state loans and permits.
Chitwood explained that those items that weren’t completed over the past five years from previous planning efforts will be carried forward to the newest round of documentation, along with those areas of concerns brought up by stakeholders over the rest of this year as the process continues.
Documentation and approval of the plan from local governments has to be completed by the end of February 2017.
The next meeting of stakeholders is set for March 3 at Cedartown City Hall in the Commission meeting room at 6 p.m.