In 2019, El Paso County officials initiated a new master planning process, with the goal to replace the Black Forest Preservation Plan, the Falcon Comprehensive Plan, the Southwest Highway 115 Plan and several other long-standing small-area plans.Mark Gebhart, deputy director at El Paso County Development Services, said most of the 10 small-area plans were outdated; plus, it would have been cost prohibitive to update them and create new plans for areas that did not have a plan.ìIn addition, the individual plans had conflicting overlaps, did not recognize current jurisdictional boundaries, did not acknowledge current growth trends and did not cover the entire county,î Gebhart said. ìThe bottom line is there needed to be an overall land use plan that tied everything together.î He said they pursued an overall master plan based on information they collected from the Joint Land Use Study, Destination Master Planning, the Broadband Strategic Plan, the Regional Office of Emergency Management Plan and the El Paso County Major Transportation Corridor Plan.The county hired Houseal Lavigne Associates as consultants for the project. HLA assigned a local outreach team in May 2019 to act as advocates for their particular areas during the planning process. The LOT members were Judy von Ahlefeldt, Black Forest; Kevin Curry, Falcon; Tom Fellows, Southwest Highway 115; and Tom Vierzbang, Tri-Lakes. ìWe had trouble finding anyone to volunteer in the Ute Pass, Security/Widefield, South Central, Eastern Plains, Calhan and Peyton areas,î Gebhart said. The goal of the outreach team was to facilitate workshops and meetings in the county to discuss the plan and keep people up to date on the process.The team was discontinued in June. ìIn order to bolster our public input footprint, we ultimately had to turn to social media platforms such as Nextdoor and Facebook, which proved very effective during the initial public outreach effort,î he said. ìSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been forced to†further†adapt our approach to public engagement for the later phases of the planning process.î The platforms they are using can be found at https://elpaso-hlplanning.hub.arcgis.com.Kevin Curry, former member of the El Paso County Planning Commission, said, ìFrom the outset, all the [now former] LOT (local outreach team) leads were frustrated by unclear expectations, lack of authority beyond attending meetings and lack of any materials in advance of meetings. It was my experience that neither the contractor, the steering committee, nor the Planning and Community Development Department have much interest in public input and suggestions.î He said many ideas were dismissed as being ìarea-myopic, self-serving, or ill-informed.îCurry said updating the master plan is ìlong overdue.î He said the county should be ìcommendedî for taking on the process. ìMany of the draft changes are cutting edge ideas that have potential to make the plan a very useful tool moving forward. That said, the process hasn’t been perfect.îHe said many factors have contributed to the absence of public input, including coronavirus concerns, a lack of public awareness and the master plan is a low priority for the public. Curry suggested the county redouble public outreach efforts using widely accessed media (e.g., Gazette, The New Falcon Herald, local television stations). ìI would urge the public to get involved and weigh in early if possible. Waiting to testify at the planning commissionís approval meeting will be too late.îAs it stands, the public can get involved by participating in ongoing meetings; El Paso County Planning Commission and Board of County Commissioners meetings are streamed and televised as well as the Master Plan Advisory Committee meetings ó the public can engage virtually at https://www.agendasuite.org/iip/elpaso. Gebhart encouraged the public to email them with questions or concerns by using the ìContact the Project Teamî button at the bottom of the home page.Gebhart said some of the comments they have heard from the public range from positive to no more building to preservation and protection of what exists to concerns for emergency services. Others noted that roadways and infrastructure need to be addressed before any further growth. Of course, water supply issues were cited as well. Modifications to plans and documents have been made based on comments and concerns from the public, Gebhart said. Examples include a demographic analysis and an existing conditions report, modified after input from planners, an advisory committee and the BoCC. Another example is the Initial Place-type Mapping, modified after public comment from Terry Stokka regarding Cathedral Pines and La Foret.Gebhart said the public can participate in the review of the upcoming drafts through the online advisory committee meetings. They will also develop a community engagement program once a draft of the master plan has been completed. The program will address changes to the public input process caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, while ensuring all community members are able to participate.
