County seeks residents’ input on master plan

Pinal County wants your input; at least the Pinal Partnership does.

The Pinal Partnership is a group of community members and business leaders working together to bring local ideas and issues to fruition.

The document the partnership is seeking input on is the Pinal County master plan, which describes where the county is, where it wants to go and how it wants to get there.

Included in this plan is the county’s vision on developing transportation, strategies to create employment centers, goals and polices related to economic development, housing, infrastructure and the environment.

In addition to these goals, the document lays out an implementation plan to realize the vision. The document works hand in hand with the plans that cities in the county currently have.

One of the main points the plan focuses on is build out. “We don’t want to build the roads today and then five years later have to go back and widen them. We want to get it right the first time,” said committee member Terry Doolittle.

The partnership has set forth a 12-step program to ensure the plan meets the goals of the majority of Pinal County citizens.

Currently that plan is on step eight, which is the 60-day draft review. During this time residents can view the plan and make recommendations for changes. The 60-day time line for input will expire Sept. 5.

The plan in its entirety is available at www.pinalcountyplan.com; residents can also submit suggestions on the Web site. Once Sept. 12 comes around, the committee will gather all suggestions and bring them to the county board of supervisors for modifications to the plan.

After the modifications are made, a public hearing will be set. When all issues arising from that hearing are decided, a final draft of the plan will be drawn up and distributed.

The county must adopt a master plan by 2011.

Photo by Michael K. Rich