Revisit the Question to be Asked as Part of the Citizen Engagement Process for the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan

At the May meeting, the Board developed a question that would be used to invite residents to participate in the review of and potential update to the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.  The consensus of the Board was to use the following language: “How do natural resources and the environment align with your perception of land use practices and the vision within the City?”.

Following the EPB's May meeting, Staff received some general feedback regarding the Citizen Engagement Process and questions used to invite the public to participate.  This was not specific to the EPB's question, but in response to questions being developed for other components or citizen engagement sessions. In addition, this feedback regarding the desired structure of these questions was discussed in a Joint Work Session with the Planning Commission and City Council.

The primary feedback received was that questions used in this process should have a positive tone and be simple enough that everyone could answer regardless of their technical knowledge of the subject. While the question regarding natural resources was not specifically addressed, after contemplating the feedback and reassessing the question the Board developed, Staff believes it may be appropriate to consider a revised question.
 
It is Staff's intent to route each of the proposed questions related to the various components of the Comprehensive Plan Update project through City Council as a quick check-in before proceeding.  Thus, Staff wanted to revisit this question with the Board to consider a potential alternative question that could be posed.

Based on the Board's discussion from the May meeting, there was a desire to ensure that whatever terminology was used be all encompassing. Considering the general discussion that has already occurred, and based on feedback Staff has received on formatting questions for the citizen engagement process, Staff would recommend the following question be used to invite the public to participate in a public workshop to assess the current Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan and to inform Staff if there are needed updates/revisions:

"What value do natural resources and environmental sustainability add to your neighborhood?"

In addition to a public workshop, there are other opportunities to solicit input from the public on this Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.  These could include collecting input from attendees at the one of the summer concert series events at the amphitheater in The Draw as well as at the EPB's booth at Happy Days.

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

Motion to approve Staff's recommended revisions to the question used to invite the public to participate in a public workshop to review the Environmental Protection/Resource Management Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.

-or-

Motion to direct Staff to forward the Board's original question to City Council for consideration.