The proposed Comprehensive Plan for Dona Ana County will be presented to the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, August 25th. A comprehensive plan lays out the overarching goals for the county. Comprehensive plans are required by the state in order to receive state funding. They are also required for many other types of funding. The current county Comprehensive Plan is very old and out of date and needs to be replaced.
The proposed plan has been three years in the making. Over 200 meetings have been held throughout the county--public meetings, focus groups, special interest group meetings, interviews, one-on-one meetings, etc. The public participation has been and continues to be broad and diverse. Unlike many planning processes that invite the public into the exercise only after a plan has been formed, this planning process started with public participation. The plan is built on the community’s desire to protect the historic character and the tourist and agricultural economies of the county. At meetings held across the county, people asked that the generations-old local traditions and culture be built into the planning process. And they have been.
The participants wanted to protect and enhance existing plazas; continue the historical development patterns of small villages surrounded by agriculture; provide new civic and open spaces and access to trails and recreational areas; and use schools as community anchors for walkable communities through well placed school sites and Safe Routes to Schools programs. They worried about storm water management and wanted flood hazards to be assessed. They consistently brought up the idea of greater water conservation, and the need for rainwater harvesting,
They wanted more affordable housing options and hoped to eliminate housing discrimination due to disability, national origin, and familial status. More affordable housing was one of the top three priorities, especially in northern Dona Ana County. More choice of transportation options, especially transit, was in the top three throughout the rest of the county. Residents of the county want transit targeted to specific areas and improved access to markets, jobs, medical care, and education.
They are hoping to upgrade their skills through workforce development that matches job skills to the needs of our businesses. They want broadband available throughout the county and mixed use community development patterns that offer a variety of housing types and some services as well. In some of our county’s food deserts, people have to drive 40 miles one way to get to fresh food. They hope to have greater access to healthy foods through farmers’ markets (permanent and traveling) and community and school gardens.
The public participation process that informed this plan was broad and deep and very informative. The consultants listened, wrote, asked for feedback, revised, listened again, revised again, and listened, and revised, and have put together a plan that is deeply rooted in the traditions and culture of the county.
We always have a few groups in the community who do not participate in the process. The development of this plan is no exception. It’s possible some may have overlooked their invitation to participate. For other groups, though, this is their preferred manner of operating. They sit out all the public planning meetings, then show up at the end, say they weren’t invited (despite repeated invitations), and then want the process to start all over again just for them. This Comprehensive Plan is extremely well done, was built upon an amazing amount of public participation throughout the process, and is ready to be accepted by the commission.
The community has spoken. Let’s move forward.