On July 26, 2017, Master Plan consultants from RPI Consulting presented a summary of comments, suggestions and recommendations made by community members via several forums including one-on-one interviews, community meetings and an online survey.
Top on the list of broad topics that are considered important in the Master Plan are nature/outdoors, quality of life and public lands followed closely by agriculture, education, the economy, and the environment. Community responses showed less interest in heritage, independence and freedom than RPI staff, Erica Weeks and Gabe Preston (attending remotely) expected.
The presentation took place during a Delta County Planning Commission meeting where commissioners were assured that they would have final approval of the plan and that the input gathered to date would be the basis for RPI’s draft. While Preston noted that the data summary drew no hard conclusions, he suggested that RPI begin writing the draft plan immediately. The Planning Commission agreed to move forward, but voiced concern that more than half of the online survey participants came from residents in the North Fork area, possibly leaving out important voices from other areas in unincorporated Delta County.
Susan Raymond, Leroux Creek Area Planning Committee member, suggested to Planning Commissioners that the reason most of the respondents were from the Paonia area was because they feel most threatened by planning decisions. “Put a uranium mine in Delta and I’d bet you’d see a lot more response (from the Delta area).”
Preston commented that more input could be added during the draft review process if it should arise.
Pictured introduction page: Word cloud analysis of essay responses to the Master Plan online survey. Pictured this page: Snap shot of online survey response to “What do you consider most important to include in the Master Plan?.”