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DENTON – As the Caroline County Department of Planning and Codes gears up to update the county’s Comprehensive Plan, the Planning Commission discussed a 2022 survey and will soon seek current residents’ input at a public outreach session Wednesday, April 30.
During its April 9 meeting, four of the five Planning Commission members discussed the results of the survey, which some members had not seen.
The department is “trying to get the word about out about the Comprehensive Plan, because it’s important to get public participation,” County Planner Olivia Vidotto said. “It drives the changes in your zoning code.”
Vidotto and Assistant Director of Planning Leslie Grunden introduced the survey results to the commissioners, and discussed the possibility of “potentially doing a second survey this summer to focus on “particular issues relating to recent state legislation and adding “more specific, targeted questions.”
“There have been a lot of changes over the last three years,” Vidotto said. “The demographics have changed, because as I've been working on the comp plan update, and looking at the demographics and the information from the Census Bureau, it's really interesting to see the numbers changing in certain areas of the county.”
About 191 people responded to the 2022 survey. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the total estimated population of the county was 34,248 as of July 1, 2024.
Revised or additional survey questions will be reviewed by the Planning Commissioners. The survey will be one component of a multi-layered outreach effort.
Vidotto is the lead organizer of the department’s outreach to county residents.
“I think it will be good to get those fresh, new perspectives of people who are here,” Vidotto said. “There’s a good amount of people that don't necessarily speak English that we can reach out to, and have better ways (of communicating with them) than in the past.”
Information about the public sessions will be disseminated in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole.
Planning Commission Chairman Jeff Jackson mentioned additional changes in the county, such as “solar panels and sand pits” residents have expressed concerns about that didn’t exist at large scale at the time of the 2022 survey.
Grunden said the survey could be useful in documenting and defending the county’s position on important issues in the revised comprehensive plan, such as preserving agricultural and rural land, that are important to the majority of citizens.
According to the county website, the Comprehensive Plan “will outline current conditions, future development goals, and an action plan to achieve transportation and mobility, natural resources and environment, housing, infrastructure, economic development, and future growth needs in Caroline County.”
The Comprehensive Plan applies to areas of Caroline County outside of town limits. Individual incorporated towns are working on their own comprehensive plans.
The Comprehensive Plan covers six topics: natural resources and the environment, infrastructure and utilities, economic development, transportation and mobility, housing and future growth and land use.
The first information session will be held at 6 p.m., Wednesday, April 30, in Room 111 of the Health and Public Services Building, 403 S. 7th Street, Denton. It is open to the public. More outreach sessions will be scheduled around the county.
The results and narrative summary of the 2022 survey can be viewed as a link in the Planning Commission’s April 9 agenda at https://carolinecountymd.new.swagit.com/videos/339628. You can also watch the complete meeting.
