CompPlan-WhoWritesIt

 

​There are a host of government agencies that can provide input for Comprehensive Plans. These entities help bring a larger regional or even statewide perspective to Comprehensive Plans and ensure that proposed policies do not negatively impact issues of regional or state concern. They can include:

​Elected officials bring to the Comprehensive Plan process both a high level view of County operations and a detailed view of the everyday needs of their constituents. This diversity of perspectives helps round out the input of many of the other sources.

​Public input is vital to the success of a Comprehensive Plan since it is the citizens who actually live, work and own land in the community. In the Comprehensive Plan process, Charlotte 2050 provides the public with the opportunity to participate either in person or online in several workshops that will be held periodically. At these workshops, the public will be able to voice their comments and ideas through surveys and other exercises that focus collaboration into specific areas such as:

• Community Identity
• Neighborhood Protection
• Urban Design
• Conservation
• Transportation
• Land Use

​The task of preparing a Comprehensive Plan for a jurisdiction like Charlotte County is immense, and cannot typically be completed entirely by county staff. Most jurisdictions hire consultants to help them write their Comprehensive Plans and move it through the approval process. Outside consultants can bring fresh ideas and solutions to solve difficult problems and can provide specialized services and resources that are not readily available to county staff.

• Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin
• University of Central Florida (SAGE)  
• Fishkind & Associates
• Randall Arendt, Greener Prospect

​Participation from county staff is vitally important to creating a useful and effective Comprehensive Plan since they are the everyday implementers of its policies. They are in the trenches every day and have intimate knowledge of how well (or not so well) particular policies or processes in the Comprehensive Plan function.
 

In the planning process, county staff will contribute both data and analysis for the writing of the Comprehensive Plan and write some portions themselves.    Once the Comprehensive Plan is written, it is the staff that will maintain it and ensure that its policies are implemented in all areas of the County government.

Participating County Departments include:

• Growth Management
• Parks and Recreation
• Utilities
• Environmental Services
• Public Works
• Public Safety
• Public Information Office
• Information Technology