Confirm Question Developed by the Environmental Policy Board to Invite the Public to Participate in the Review of the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan

The City Council has approved a general framework document outlining the citizen engagement process to be utilized as part of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan Update.  In brief terms, this includes asking the public a broad policy question for input on current conditions and desired goals.  Based on that input, the community can then develop possible ideas and solutions that will frame how each section/chapter of the Comprehensive Plan will be updated. 

The Environmental Policy Board (EPB), who will serve a primary role in the review of the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter, has developed the following question to invite the public to an open house/collaborative workshop: "What value do natural resources and conservation add to your community?".  The purpose of this case is to briefly check in with the City Council regarding the proposed question.  If the City Council finds the question to be suitable and appropriate, the intention would be for the EPB to begin utilizing the question to solicit input on this chapter of the Comprehensive Plan at their booth at Happy Days (and potentially other venues) in advance of any public workshop.

Notification is not required.  However, once a date is set for the public input session, the City will utilize various media outlets, such as the website, newsletter, and community sign, to advertise the meeting date.

In developing this question, the EPB attempted to ensure that the question maintained a positive tone and was one that all residents would be able to answer.  In fact, the EPB actually revisited this topic recently (August) and modified the question to ensure that it could be readily answered by the all residents.  Their intention is to engage the public on this topic to garner as much input and feedback on the current provisions of this Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan early in the process.

This first step is equivalent to a scoping meeting, where the community can respond to the question and identify priorities and opportunities.  This is the initial step of what is generally considered to be a 3-4 step process (as outlined on the attached general framework document).  Thus, the vision, values, and goals component of the plan will be addressed by the community prior to ideas and solutions being developed for this Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.  In fact, gathering some of the initial input on the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter in advance of the vision, values, and goals review may be beneficial to that discussion.

This case is being prepared as part of Staff's regular duties.

The EPB and Staff recommend utilizing the proposed question, "What value to natural resources and conservation add to your community?", as the invitation for citizen engagement on the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.

Motion to approve the proposed question for the Citizen Engagement process on the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan Update.