A year-long process of gathering public input for the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan Update will begin at the August 7 meeting of the Deschutes County Planning Commission. The Commission will act as the Steering Committee for the two-year updating process.

The Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan is a document that guides land use growth and conservation. The current Plan includes many chapters that have not been updated since they were written in the late 1970s. Some may not reflect current land conditions or community values. Additionally, the County is growing rapidly and Deschutes County government would like to think ahead about how and where future growth occurs.

The Deschutes County Planning Commission will act as the Steering Committee, holding one meeting per month on the Plan (see attached schedule). Meetings are held with the public in mind, seeking input about community land use values and where the public would like Deschutes County to grow. Topics of the meetings will include Transportation System plan update, high groundwater development in South County, rural development, farms and forests, destination resorts, wildlife habitat, and water quantity and quality. All meetings (approximately one meeting per month from August 2008 to July 2009) will be open to the public and will include an opportunity for community input.

The August 7 meeting of the Planning Commission/Steering Committee will be located at the Deschutes County Services Center at 1300 NW Wall Street, in Bend. The meeting will be held in the Barnes/Sawyer meeting rooms on the first floor of the building beginning at 5:30 p.m.

The Comprehensive Plan updating process is expected to be complete by July 2010. Public input gathering will take place fiscal year 2008-09 and the Plan will be updated fiscal year 2009-10. The public input process goals are to engage residents, listen to their land use values, assess ideas and strategies, and to develop policy recommendations to the Steering Committee. The final Plan update will go before the Board of County Commissioners for consideration and possible adoption is August or September of 2010.

For more information about the overall process to update the Deschutes County Comprehensive Plan, please visit www.deschutes.org/cdd or call 388-6575.