Catoosa County on Thursday, July 29, held an open house at the county administrative building to display the “preliminary draft” of its “Comprehensive Plan Update 2011-2031 Community Agenda.”

More than 40 residents, including public officials, from Catoosa County, Fort Oglethorpe and Ringgold came by the four-hour open house to see the draft

Every 10 years the state requires each county in Georgia to create a “comprehensive plan” that will act as a guide for progress and growth.

The county says the plan’s goal is to “shape” decisions that include the location of commercial, office and residential land use, areas of environmental or historical significance that should be protected, and zoning and development standards.

The “Community Agenda” includes an updated “Community Vision” that includes goals, policies and implementation strategies along with a “Future Development Map” and associated text.

The open house was to show what community input had been gathered over previous “visioning workshops.”

Marty Sewell of MACTEC, the Atlanta-based engineering and consulting firm hired to help the county with its comprehensive plan, explained the high points of the firm’s findings on what is desired for growth in Catoosa County.

“We’ve found people want concentrated growth in urban and suburban areas where there have already been plans in place for expansion,” Sewell said. “This allows for preserving the rural landscape of the area.”

Sewell said having growth in concentrated areas already prepared for growth will help to serve the areas which citizens said they wish to maintain as rural.

Fort Oglethorpe residents Pat Silcox and Harold Silcox had been to previous “visioning workshops” and said they were pleased to see their input and others’ input composed and on display.

“We’d like to see the part of downtown that leads into (the Chickamauga Battlefield) park revitalized,” Pat Silcox said.

Silcox said the closed businesses and choice of some businesses in the area make the drive less appealing to the thousands of travelers who visit Chickamauga Battlefield national park each year.

“The gateway to the park is blighted,” Silcox said. “If I were visiting, it just doesn’t appear like the kind of place I would want to set up a business.”

Both Harold and Pat said they were happy with the process of the “visioning workshops” and the layout of the “preliminary draft” of the “community agenda.”

Additional public input opportunities will take place during two sets of public hearings with Catoosa County commissioners and city councils of each city.

Each government body is tentatively scheduled to hold public hearings and then consider “Transmittal Resolutions” for the “Community Agenda” in September. These resolutions authorize submittal of the plan to the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission (NGRDC) and the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for review.

A final set of public hearings are required following NGRDC and DCA review and prior to plan adoption.

The DCA deadline for plan adoption is Feb. 28, 2011.