Survey available under Hot Topics – Living & Working: Rural Land Use Plan Survey
http://www.linncounty.org/

Linn County is updating its Rural Land Use Plan and invites residents to give their input through an online survey. To participate in the survey, residents are encouraged to go the Linn County website at www.linncounty.org and click on the “Rural Land Use Plan Survey” link on the home page under the “Living & Working” section of “Hot Topics.” The plan update is being managed by the staff of the Linn County Planning & Development Department.

“Good planning practices call for a thorough review and update of the Rural Land Use Plans every 7-10 years,” said Les Beck, Linn County’s Planning and Development Director. “It is our goal that the citizens of Linn County be the guiding voice for how the county will grow and develop, and we hope they will give us their opinions and ideas.”

A steering committee of local residents representing various stakeholder groups has been formed and several working groups will develop plan elements on such topics as agriculture and natural resource protection; economic development and employment opportunities; heritage and quality of life; housing supply and diversity; joint planning and intergovernmental cooperation; renewable energy; hazard mitigation; stormwater and erosion control; and transportation. The Rural Land Use Plan update is expected to be complete in 2013.

Linn County received a grant from the Iowa Department of Economic Development to perform the Rural Land Use Plan update, which will bring its plan more fully into compliance with the recently adopted Iowa Smart Planning Principles. Les Beck, Planning and Development Director, co-chairs the Iowa Smart Planning Task Force.

The Iowa Smart Planning Principles were adopted during the 2010 legislative session and enacted into law on April 1, 2010. The 10 Iowa Smart Planning Principles are:

Collaboration;
Efficiency, Transparency, and Consistency;
Clean, Renewable and Efficient Energy;
Occupational Diversity;
Revitalization;
Housing Diversity;
Community Character;
Natural Resources and Agricultural Protection;
Sustainable Design; and
Transportation Diversity.
Contact Les Beck at (319) 892-5130 or by email at [email protected] for more information.