Staff recommends Inspire Placemaking Collective to update Spalding County comprehensive plan; commissioners stress stronger engagement

Dr. Ledbetter presented staff's recommendation on May 4 that Spalding County contract with Inspire Placemaking Collective to lead its comprehensive plan update, citing the firm's experience with Georgia Department of Community Affairs requirements, a data-driven approach and a proposed community-engagement strategy.

"By contracting now, it affords Inspire Placemaking Collective one year to complete this project," Dr. Ledbetter said, and staff emphasized that an up-to-date comprehensive plan is required to preserve qualified local government status and access to state and federal funding. Staff said the work was budgeted and that some funds would come from impact-fee administrative accounts and the community development area.

Several commissioners expressed reservations based on the most recent update, calling past outreach uneven and saying previous work produced unfamiliar new land-use labels that residents found confusing. "We had a bad experience," one commissioner said, adding that in the prior update the county manager made unapproved changes to submitted material; commissioners urged that this update prioritize direct outreach to residents across districts, including open houses, pop-up events, and meetings at churches and civic clubs.

Dr. Ledbetter said the recommended firm proposed district-level open houses, pop-ups and targeted outreach to civic groups and ministers to gather diverse input. After discussion, the chair indicated the board was "good on this" for tonight, signaling support to proceed with the procurement and contract process; staff will return with contract documents as appropriate for formal action.