Consultants developing a comprehensive plan for the unincorporated areas of Adams County are still planning to conduct a series of open houses in June, as planned.

However, the meeting schedule is being pushed back to very, very late in June and will likely spill over into early July.

David Potter, senior community planner for the JEO Consulting Group of Wahoo, Neb., told The Herald-Whig Friday the consultants are looking at holding the open houses the week of June 29. A meeting with the Adams County Comprehensive Plan Committee also will be held that week.

“Meeting times and dates will be verified early next week,” Potter said by e-mail.

The Herald-Whig will publish the entire meeting schedule as soon as it becomes available.

The open houses will give the public a chance to look over a rough draft of the comprehensive plan, which has been in development for two years.

JEO, which is being paid $140,000 to develop the plan, will give the public plenty of opportunities to review the document and make comments.

Some preliminary pieces of the plan are already posted on JEO’s Web site, but some of the information is preliminary and has already been changed.

Most notable is the proposed “future land use plan” that’s gone through several revisions. This document could serve as the foundation for possible zoning regulations if county leaders decide to go that direction.
County Board members may choose not to incorporate the “future land use plan” as part of the overall comprehensive plan. Or they might.

In any event, the public — particularly those in the rural areas — will be watching what happens over the next few weeks with a great deal of interest.