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Survey says: Rank area issues
By WILL VAN SANT BROOKSVILLE -- The impact of public opinion on growth and development is often akin to a desperate man slapping a Post-it note on the backside of a galloping horse as it whips past him. Now, for once, residents have a chance to determine what issues policymakers should be considering as they shape Hernando County's future. They have a chance to get a rope around the horse's neck. Starting last week, the county Planning Department began disseminating a survey that asks residents to rank the issues they see as most central as the county strives to balance the needs and desires of the business community, developers, residents and environmental concerns. "It's important," said planner Jim King, who created the survey. "This is one of those rare opportunities where citizens . . . directly influence the planning process." Organizations small and large throughout the county will be mailed the survey and asked to make copies for members, families and friends to fill out. Presently, King and the department are working on a report that evaluates how well the county's comprehensive plan has performed. The comprehensive plan is a blueprint for growth, determining what can go where in the county. The report now being crafted -- which will be based to a certain degree on the public input generated by the survey -- will guide required changes to the comprehensive plan to be finished in 2004. The revised comprehensive plan, in turn, will shape growth and development in Hernando County for the next 20 years, during which time 90,000 people are expected to move into the county. "We want to know what people want for the future," King said. "The responses will hopefully guide us." County Commissioner Chris Kingsley encouraged people to complete the survey, which is available online. "This has to do with opening up government to the people," Kingsley said. "We go through this process for people to make their views known." According to King, it is difficult to get meaningful public input into the planning process, a bureaucratic juggernaut with an inertia all its own. The issues are complex. People are fixated on immediate problems and the demands of day-to-day living, making it difficult to focus on challenges to come. And then there is apathy. How many people believe their opinions can have an impact? To help make better sense of the survey results, respondents are asked to list their ZIP code and how many years they have lived in the county. The department hopes enough people will respond to make meaningful inferences about what issues are important to people living in different areas and whether a relationship exists between what people see as the critical challenges in their communities and how long they have been residents. A series of five growth and development meetings between county commissioners and the community is also planned to gather further public input. "We know the roads are going to get more congested, and there are going to be more people and environmental degradation to a certain degree," King said. "But we have a sense that it has to be all bad, and it does not have to be. We can have our cake and eat it, too. But it only works if the citizens become involved in the process." Survey responses will be accepted until the end of November. -- Will Van Sant covers Hernando County government and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to vansant@sptimes.com . The surveyTo fill out the county's survey on growth and development issues online, go to www.co.hernando.fl.us/plan. Surveys are also available at the Hernando County Planning Department, 20 N Main St., Room 262, Brooksville, FL 34601. The department's phone number is 754-4057.
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