The process for the next comprehensive plan is about to start.
The Liberty Consolidated Planning Commission will hold the first of 12 meetings across the county February 26 for the Flemington area at the Liberty County Performing Arts Center. There will be a meeting each month in a community to discuss the comp plan.
While the deadline for the comp plan, which under state mandate must be done every 10 years, is two years away, the work is starting now.
“It is not something you can do quickly,” LCPC executive director Jeff Ricketson told county commissioners.
The 2016 plan, the third such edition of the comp plan, had a countywide vision out until 2040. The next one, Ricketson said, will try to look as far ahead as 2050. The plan will include goals and objectives for each of the county’s seven municipalities and the county. “It is a plan that pulls everybody together but it allows for individual plans as well,” Ricketson said.
At its core, the comp plan’s purpose is to the assess the county’s progress and provide local officials with information needed to make decisions. The comp plan encompasses a gamut of issues, including housing, transportation and economic development.
Ricketson pointed out Liberty County’s population continues to grow at a steady pace. The 2020 Census pegged the county’s population at 65,274. Estimates showed that growing to 68,000 by 2022. Taking that growth rate, about 1.5%, the LCPC projects the county population hitting 78,000 by 2030. “That is a good, sustainable growth rate,” Ricketson said.
With that projection, county commission Chairman Donald Lovette said that from his school board days, they were advised to put the services where the population was and urged his fellow commissioners to look at where the county might need to put facilities to serve a growing population. “We need to carve out certain spaces for county services,” he said. “So we have to make sure, even for recreation, have to make sure we have places set aside for county growth, because it’s on the way.” “The Hyundai plant alone is going to bring the population in this area up a lot,” added Commissioner Justin Frasier. “This is going to be really, really important for the future of our county. We could have great growth here and have a lot of things for our citizens.” The plan’s elements include community goals, needs and opportunities, community work program and a broadband services element. The broadband services element will look at underserved areas. Coastal EMC entered into a partnership three years ago with Darien Communications to bring broadband to underserved areas of eastern Liberty County.
For entities that have impact fees, such as Flemington, there has to be a capital improvements element. The county is considering instituting impact fees. Also, an economic development element is required for communities included in the state’s Job Tax Credit Tier 1. Liberty is one of 71 counties in Tier 1. Long County also is in Tier 1 and Bryan County is in Tier 4.
The comp plan transportation element will be done through the Hinesville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. A housing element is required for Housing and Urban Development community development block grant recipients and it is recommended for communities with concentration of low-quality or dilapidated housing, relatively high housing costs compared to individual/ family incomes and a jobs-housing imbalance.
Also required as part of the comp plan is a review of environmental planning criteria and a review of the coastal regional water plan.
“Water is going to be one of the most critical issues for economic development and housing,” Ricketson said. “There is major water planning going on to make sure we have future water capacity.”
A local task force of engineers is working on a draft plan to address the current and future needs of the county’s water, county engineer Trent Long said. Long, Paul Simonton, Marcus Sack and Chris Stovall of Thomas and Hutton, the engineering firm for the Liberty County Development Authority, along with the LCDA’s chief operating officer Carmen Cole are working on the draft. The draft plan is looking at the needs in the next 10 years.
“We have gone through what everybody has, what our needs are and how much water we think we’ll need,” Long said. “Our need in the next 10 years is great.”
The draft is limited to 10 years because the state Environmental Protection Division’s own outlook doesn’t go beyond 10 years, Long added.
The comp plan itself will have a general vision statement at the beginning for the county as a whole. As part of the comp plan process, there is a five-year work program that serves as a report card for each city and the county, giving them a look at what they have done and what they plan to do over the next five years.
There also are community character areas for every area of the county, Ricketson said.
“They do help us when we’re trying to plan and accommodate new development when we consider the existing character area,” he said.
The state has required comp plans since 1989. The county’s first such plan was adopted in 1996 and a second followed in 2006.
Having an approved comprehensive plan enables local governments to have qualified local government status from the state. That, in turn, opens the door for a number of different funding sources, from such programs as community development block grants, OneGeorgia grants, Georgia Environmental Finance Authority loans and coastal incentive grants from the state Department of Natural Resources.
The LCPC will bring staff from the Coastal Regional Commission from October through April to help write the plan, which is expected to be 250 pages. By next spring, Ricketson said, the draft will go through the planning commission and then to the county and each of the cities.
After Flemington, the LCPC will set up visits for Fleming, McIntosh/ Holmestown, Riceboro, Midway, Walthourville, Allenhurst, Gum Branch/ Rye Patch, three Hinesville stops and a final meeting for Sunbury and the islands. Ricketson said they will find suitable locations to accommodate the crowds, which have ranged from six to 50 people.
The final public meeting, set for Sunbury/Islands, will be held in January 2025.