The purpose of the meetings is for BGA to gather residents' opinions on economic, commercial and residential development, roads, bike paths, sidewalks, other transportational elements, infrastructure, community facilities, parks and recreation, conservation and the environment, tourism and historical preservation.
"This is not a required part, as far as state statutes go," Jones said. "We're not required to get public input on it, but basically these goals and objectives are going to be the basis of all the planning decisions, regulations and ordinances, and all those sort of things that will happen over the next 20 years. It's supposed to be a 20-year (comprehensive) plan, but it will be updated every five years."
Copies of the goals and objectives will be made available at the meetings.
"We're also going to have some forms for them (public) to fill out if they would like to see something added that is not there already," Jones added.
BGA will take the information gathered at the meetings to a committee meeting to incorporate into the comprehensive plan.
"We will talk about it among ourselves about the valid points that were made," she said. "After the July 15 (BGA) meeting, we will be sending these (recommendations) along to the planning commissions."
The next step will be for the respective planning commissions to approve the plan.
"From there, they will go to the (Jessamine County) fiscal court, (Wilmore) city council and the (Nicholasville) city commission and they will officially adopt them," Jones said. "Then it becomes part of the comp plan, and that's what we'll build the rest of the plan on."
Greg Bohnett, director of the Nicholasville Planning Commission, said before the two planning commissions can adopt the measures, a public hearing would have to take place. Following the public hearing, the bodies will take a vote, and if approved, the comprehensive plan would be forwarded to the governing bodies for their approval.
"The purpose of the meetings next week is to give people the opportunity to go ahead and give us some input before the committee finishes its work," he said. "They'll (public) still have the opportunity at the time the public hearings are held to have input at that point and time. We just wanted to have the meetings with people ahead of time and give them a chance to comment before the committee passes on its recommendations on to the planning commissions."
BGA is targeting April 2009 as the completion date for the county-wide comprehensive plan.
"We're hoping to have it wrapped up completely by next April," Jones said. "There's no requirement, so we can go a month or two over if we have to."
For more information on comprehensive plans and the comprehensive planning process, go to www.jessamineco.com and look for the link to the Joint Comprehensive Plan Update, or www.bgadd.org/jessamine/jessamine_intro.htm. The Draft Statement of Goals and Objectives can be viewed at www.bgadd.org/jessamine/jessamine_docs.htm. Residents can complete a survey at www.bgadd.org/jessamine/jessamine_tellus.htm. and return it by mail or fax or submit it at one of the public meetings.
