County Officials Hear Pitch For Long Range Plan
Mike Slaughter explained the benefits of implementing a comprehensive plan for the county. – Photo by David Howell
County Officials Hear Pitch For Long Range Plan
By David Howell
Editor
COFFEEVILLE – County officials heard a pitch for the benefits of implementing a long-range comprehensive plan that could help guide and promote growth in Yalobusha County for the next 20 to 25 years. Urban planning developer Mike Slaughter with Slaughter and Associates spent more than a half-hour outlining the steps and benefits of implementing a comprehensive plan during a recessed meeting held July 19 at the Coffeeville courthouse.
Slaughter made a similar pitch in 2014, but returned at the request of several new supervisors who took office earlier in the year, along with District 3 Supervisor Lee McMinn who initially reached out to him in 2014.
“If you are a citizen of the county, it is a long-range quality of life plan. You want to have jobs, places to shop and eat out, parks and recreation, good roads to drive on,” Slaughter explained.
Slaughter explained the implementation of a comprehensive plan for the county that would identify a statement of goals and objectives for the future of the county, including policy statements that address residential, industrial and commercial development along with recreation, parks and open spaces.
The city planner also said a land use plan would be included in the plan, designed to identify and encourage development in areas most suited with that development.
“The land use plan, not to be confused with a zoning ordinance, defines the best use of land, to determine the highest and best use of property,” Slaughter continued.
A third component would be a transportation plan, that addresses planning and needs for roads and bridges. It could also identify needs of pedestrians and cyclists and possibly the airport.
The last portion of the plan would deal with community facilities including housing, schools and other infrastructure in the county.
Slaughter stressed public input would be important in the process.
Feedback From
Supervisors
“I think if we want to see our county grow and do well, we have got to consider everything that affects us, both from an economic standpoint and social standpoint. If we want to see it grow and be all that we want it to be,” Board President Cayce Washington said.
Washington also cited several specific issues that have surfaced in recent meetings, including unkept properties and job creation that could be addressed in the plan.
District Three Supervisor Lee McMinn pointed to the phenomenal growth in neighboring Lafayette County, but said this county continues to struggle in some areas.
“We are having some very position things going on, but as your numbers reflect, we seem not to be getting benefit from that overflow from Lafayette,” McMinn said, pointing to statistics presented earlier in the meeting that showed just over six percent population growth in the county from 1970 to 2010.
Other statistics presented showed the number of businesses in the county collecting sales tax went from 327 in 2006 to 310 in 2015. Slaughter also said gross retail sales in the county were $63.3 million in 2008 and $74.3 million in 2015.
“If you take out inflation, it has remained about the same,” he added about the gross sales.
“We desire to find out why we are not growing, how can you address that?” McMinn asked.
“We are going to look at the conditions in the county, whether it is unkept property, ways to clean those up to where people want to invest. We are going to look at what facilities are available to attract businesses and industry in here. Is there any thing holding it back – water, sewer and transportation. Is there a housing shortage,” Slaughter answered.
Following discussion, the supervisors indicated their desire was to reach out to the mayors of the county’s three municipalities to see if there was interest in all of the entities working together to formulate a plan that would include the county and cities.
