Fairfield County Commissioners Will Consider Comprehensive Plan at Upcoming Meeting.
March 15, 2024
From the Fairfield County Board of Commissioners
The Fairfield County Board of Commissioners will consider the Fairfield County Comprehensive Plan during a public meeting on March 19, at 9 a.m. at the Fairfield County Courthouse, 3rd Floor, Commissioners’ Hearing Room.
The Regional Planning Commission recently voted to approve the plan and recommend it to the Commissioners during its public meeting on March 5.
After nearly a year of conducting planning sessions and soliciting public input and feedback, Fairfield County Commissioners paused their adoption of the Comprehensive Plan after a September 2023 public hearing to allow more time and discussion prior to finalizing it.
“After that meeting, the Commissioners determined additional communication with townships, villages and residents was necessary to ensure all perspectives and concerns were considered in the planning process,” said Fairfield County Commissioner Jeff Fix. “We are grateful to the community for the work that has been done over the past few months, and believe this plan helps us determine how to plan for future growth in a thoughtful, strategic way.”
Over the past five months, Commissioner Fix and Planning NEXT, the professional community planning company engaged to develop the plan, held 26 meetings across the county in every township and every village with trustees, mayors and other local leaders, who were encouraged to participate in working sessions for their specific community to help solidify the plan. In addition, meetings with the Fairfield County Farm Bureau and Fairfield County School Superintendents were held to gather additional feedback.
The Comprehensive Plan Would be a Tool for Managing Development
Once approved, the Comprehensive Plan is intended to be Fairfield County’s plan to manage growth, land use, and development, and is being developed to serve as a basis for considering a variety of growth- and service-related policies, programs, regulations, and capital expenditures.
The plan is a resource for local jurisdictions (townships, villages, cities) to use in managing growth and investments in their own communities. The plan is not a mandate and does not replace local zoning, but it can serve as a resource to consider code and zoning map amendments to further guide development in each community. The plan has been funded and administered by the Fairfield County Commissioners at the request of local trustees, mayors and other leaders.
“Numerous changes have been made to the plan based on the feedback we received during our meetings with local leaders,” said Fix. “When we started on this journey a year ago, it was with the hope that it would be used as a guide to manage the development that is coming so we could be proactive rather than reactive.”
A copy of the updated plan can be found on the RPC website at www.co.fairfield.oh.us/rpc/.
If adopted, the Comprehensive Plan will replace all previously adopted comprehensive and land use plans for Fairfield County and can be adopted by local jurisdictions to serve as their policy document for making future zoning and service decisions based on what their communities want and need.
