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MOUNT VERNON — Every five years, local officials, business leaders, and community members update the Knox County Comprehensive Plan under the oversight of the Regional Planning Commission.
Historically, the process took a long time because they worked voluntarily.
In light of anticipated growth — in general, and due to Intel building two fabs in Licking County — local officials sought outside help with the 2024 update. Planning NEXT is undertaking the process, working through a 30-member steering committee.
A Knox Pages reader wondered who chose those 30 members and also asked additional questions. To learn the answers, Knox Pages turned to Jeff Gottke, president of the Area Development Foundation, and Darrel Severns, secretary of the Regional Planning Commission.
Who chose the steering committee members?
The Knox County Board of Commissioners ($150,000), Knox County Regional Planning Commission ($50,000), and the City of Mount Vernon ($50,000) are underwriting the cost. These “lead entities” chose the committee members.
Specifically, Severns of the RPC, County Commissioner Teresa Bemiller, Gottke, and Mayor Matt Starr and Councilwoman Amber Keener of the City of Mount Vernon.
“We each came up with six to eight people we thought would make good members of the steering committee, and then tried to pare it down,” Severns explained.
“We didn’t want to get too big of a group, but we wanted people who would show up to meetings.”
Why are not all 22 townships represented?
Gottke said it’s a matter of logistics.
“The group is about 30, and it’s meant to represent a broad cross-section of the county,” he said. “Including all 22 townships is just a geographic representation. We want to try and capture geography as well as demography as well as occupation.”
He noted that the members include two high school and one college student, retirees, those with advanced and high school educations, nonprofits, real estate, and those from various professions, such as manufacturing and government.
“We tried to balance the group across all those factors, so people from all corners of the county are represented. We took a more holistic group than just geography,” Gottke said.
“And since regional planning is a lead entity, Darrel can represent the townships. The commissioner member represents the townships as well.”
Severns agreed with the logistics of having 22 township representatives and members representing other sectors.
“If we put 22 people on from the townships, we wouldn’t have room for the Amish, the businesses, the other entities,” he said. “But they can be involved if they want to be through these public outreach events we’ve been doing. But we do have several trustees on the committee.”
Are the Amish fairly represented on the steering committee?
John Yoder is the sole Amish representative on the committee. Gottke said Yoder is well-known in the Amish community and can spread the message.
“Which is what this steering committee essentially does,” he said. “It’s representative of the county but also distributive.”
“John has been to every meeting,” Severns said. “He represents probably the northeast corner. John gets feedback from the Amish community and brings it to the table.”
Severns acknowledged that Yoder coming from the northeast part of the county might not be even representation geographically.
“Obviously, there could be more representation from the Amish, and I think that would be good because the Amish population is growing significantly,” he said.
Severns hopes the Amish community will provide feedback through the public hearings.
Are blue-collar workers and families being fairly represented?
“If you ask if people have been asked their viewpoint throughout the county, I would say yes, through our public outreach,” Severns said.
He noted that churches and other groups that held meetings-in-a-box included blue-collar and lower-income workers.
“There was a wide range of people who participated in that exercise. Most of our steering committee did meetings-in-a-box,” Severns said. “I think we do have a well-rounded representation of the county at all levels of economic strata.”
Gottke said some committee members are business owners who understand workers’ perspectives. Others are in professions such as insurance or real estate that reach all income levels.
Additionally, he said the ADF understands the needs of blue-collar families.
“There are always more individual groups than people. That’s why you have to bring a broad perspective to the table,” he said.
Why was the time allocated to the online survey and meetings-in-a-box so brief?
Residents had about four weeks to respond to the Together Knox online survey or participate in a meeting-in-a-box. Severns is not sure why it was so brief.
“My personal belief is there is pressure to get it done before the first of the year,” he said. “I don’t agree with that. I don’t think we should rush the process.”
He rejects the idea that the consultants already know what they want to go into the plan.
“I don’t believe that. I think they are cognizant of getting what the people want, not coming in with a preconceived notion of what they’re writing,” Severns said.
“That is our responsibility: To make sure they don’t do that.”
Ultimately RPC will recommend the plan to the county commissioners.
“We have to stay engaged and do our part to make sure we get what we want to get out of the process,” Severns said.
Gottke said the short time frame stems partly from an end-of-year deadline and budgetary awareness.
“The longer we leave those things open, the longer we have to pay the consultants,” he noted. “Part of it is that with the 30 members on the steering committee, we felt we could reach a broad cross-section of the county in a short amount of time. And, of course, we also used our media and social outlets.
“We had 1,200 responses; that’s 2% of the county. That’s very good,” he added.
Gottke noted the survey is the first step. Residents can interact with the consultants through email updates and public hearings.
“I want the townships to endorse the plan. No one’s trying to do things in a smoky back room,” he said. “Comprehensive plans work because they have broad input and support.”
