Summit County launches countywide visioning and a community planning lab to guide long‑term choices

Derek (project lead) and Maddie McDonough briefed the COG on 'Our Summit,' a countywide community visioning effort intended as a 10–20 year compass for land use, housing, transportation and sustainability decisions. The project is broken into four phases through the fall; the first phase focuses on broad public engagement via a county survey and a series of kickoff open houses.

Maddie said phases 1–3 will emphasize community involvement and that the team is recruiting 'Community Connectors' and ambassadors to reach residents who do not typically attend public meetings. The team has one remaining kickoff open house on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 6–8 p.m. at the South Summit Services Building (Camas Valley branch of the library) and asked mayors to circulate the survey link and collateral to increase participation.

Separately, the planning department launched a 10‑week Community Planning Lab to build local planning literacy; 30 participants were selected from 35 applicants and sessions run with guest speakers and final project presentations scheduled for Monday, April 3 (6–8 p.m., Summit County Library, Camas Valley). Maddie asked the COG to attend final presentations and to recommend potential mentors for student projects.

Council members emphasized the need for wide participation and for sharing materials with municipal staff; staff said raw survey data will be available and can be segmented geographically to help local jurisdictions avoid duplicating effort with their own visioning projects.