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The “final” draft of the first ever comprehensive Portage County Plan will debut at a hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday at the NEW Center’s Cook Hall on the NEOMED Rootstown campus and attendance may be well worth your time.
Authored by the Portage County Regional Planning Commission, the plan is Portage County’s first ever.
According to Todd Peetz, director of the Regional Planning Commission, our neighboring counties have long had countywide plans. We in Portage County are the ones out of step, and rectifying that by producing a countywide plan has been one of Todd’s goals ever since the then Portage County Commissioners hired him as director more than 14 years ago.
Read Portage 2050 plan: Complete draft report avaialble
The slow pace in coming up with a plan is not a reflection on Todd so much as it concerns inadequate resources and possibly long-held reservations by some of us who may think about planning this way: Portage County has gone along for more than 200 years without a plan so why have one now?
The 175-page document begins to answer that. The verbiage says, “The Plan provides guidance to the County Commissioners, County Department Heads and County ‘Agencies on developing the County in a coordinated and unified manner.”
When decisions regarding land use, road construction, farmlands, river access, recreation, conservation and so many topics arise, referring to the plan avoids continuous reliance on case-by-case studies to make decisions. By encouraging intergovernmental coordination, the plan should minimize waste, reduce excessive costs for the extension of public utilities and services, limit damage to environmentally sensitive areas, and “reduce the loss of valuable resources such agricultural land, recreation and open space, sand, and gravel.”
The plan’s 10 chapters bear the following titles: Population Trends, Housing, Land Resources, Community Services, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Economic Development, Land Use and Zoning, Implementation. Skimming through its pages, I learned we are one of the few counties in Northeast Ohio whose population is still growing, although slowly. We are aging because birthrates are going down and life expectancies are going up.
Portage County remains very white racially, although diversity is slightly higher now than a decade ago. Per capita income in Portage County is second highest of any county in Northeast Ohio, but at $57,000 we are behind U.S. average per capita income of $62,000. While new home construction continues, most of our housing was built before 1980. Given the aging of our population, housing devoted to the needs of senior citizens is behind.
Portage County’s freshwater resources are split between the Lake Erie and Ohio River basins. Compliance with numerous federal and state mandates is an ongoing concern, especially regarding the preservation of wetlands whose filters keep our water clean and able to host species that might otherwise be endangered.
I counted 50 buildings and sites in Portage County Plan that are listed on the National Historic Register, which offers some protection for their preservation and specifies how they might be developed. Nearly 50 parks in various stages are enumerated, seventeen of them within the Portage County Park District and others in the jurisdiction of the state of Ohio. Their purpose is preservation and low-grade recreation. Also listed are many municipal and township parks whose primary purpose appears to be recreation. While agriculture remains important, those making their living from it and lands devoted to it are in decline, the plan says.
With roads and streets making up the primary infrastructure for transportation, the plan talks about making streets and roads more hospitable to hikers and bicyclers. Efforts to introduce broadband are mentioned. Tools such as tax credits to spur development are noted. Strategies for revitalizing downtowns are listed. Holding on to our rural heritage is deemed desirable.
Plans sometimes cause a yawn and a ho-hum, but maybe not this time. The authors suggest annual updates that address specifics.
Here is a sample of topics suggested for study and consideration. 1) Designate areas for agriculture where utilities will not be permitted. 2) Work to improve sheriff response times. 3) Identify growth areas plus areas where growth should not be permitted. 4) Encourage re-use of existing structures. 5) Spearhead efforts to pursue grant opportunities. 6) Encourage development to existing clean sites rather than extending infrastructure into green fields. 7) Undertake periodic zoning reviews to promote rural character. 8) Limit expansion of sewer and water lines into rural areas to limit development. 9) Collaborate with local governments to update zoning regulations. 10) Encourage zoning regulations that limit urban sprawl. 11) Enforce restrictions that limit the effects of global warming.
The plan has already evoked strong opinions, some favoring greater intervention, others saying the government should stay out of their business. The Planning Commission hopes to take the document to the commissioners in May for adoption. Once adopted, county departments and agencies will assist with implementation.
Credit the Regional Planning Commission for the hard work they have put into the countywide plan. If it sets off a firestorm of discussion, so much the better. Not engaging one another and putting up barriers that limit discussion will mean Portage County will continue its case-by-case pattern of ad hoc development, with unintended consequences and collateral damage shaping big swaths of Portage County.
Maybe we can do better. That is the goal of the new Portage County Comprehensive Plan.
David E. Dix is a retired published of the Record-Courier.
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