Based on action items in the Dade County, Georgia, community’s comprehensive plan, the courthouse is being renovated and three new storm shelters are being built.
And right now, local officials are inviting the public to submit more ideas on what they’d like to see in their community through a survey released earlier this week.
The plan’s title references Dade County and the city of Trenton, but because city and county officials represent the community, it’s really the people’s plan, said Alex Smith, a community planner with the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission, the organization that conducts the survey for Northwest Georgia communities.
“The plan’s purpose is to meet their [citizens’] needs, and we assess their needs,” Smith said. “And that’s a large portion of what the public survey is – to get their opinion and understanding of what direction they would like to go. And we do it on their behalf because we want to best know how to serve them.”
The survey, “Fostering Positive Growth: Dade County Community Survey 2022”, can be found at bit.ly/dade-survey.
Dade is conducting the required five-year update to its current plan, while Walker County just completed its full plan that’s re-written every 10 years. Smith said Walker County received 640 survey responses, and he hopes to have that many if not more for Dade County.
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / The newly-constructed tornado shelter at the Dade County Sports Complex in Trenton, Ga., was built after residents said it was needed during a previous comprehensive plan process. It’s seen here on Friday, March 11, 2022.The survey includes about a dozen questions, with a list of checkboxes to choose from. Officials hope to compile the surveys in April or May and finish the plan June 2, before the deadline of June 30, according to Don Townsend, county clerk and chief financial officer for Dade County.
The regional planning commission serves 15 counties and 49 municipalities in Northwest Georgia, Smith said. The commission also has agencies on aging and disability, and a workforce component, helping people find jobs and education when they’re unemployed or there’s a big plant shutdown, he added. Though it’s existed under several different names, the regional commission began in 1959 as a way to coordinate regionwide planning, according to its website.
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Before he became mayor of Trenton, Alex Smith said he worked for Dade County and helped write the current comprehensive plan. Along with a steering committee and public meetings for stakeholders – industrial companies, banks, the chamber of commerce and the public – the survey is part of the effort to listen to the community about the changes residents want.
“It’s just an update, it’s not a complete re-make of the plan,” Smith said. “We’re just updating what’s in the first half of the 10-year current plan we have. So it’s just a catch-up to see where we are and where we want things to go.”
Smith listed a few of the categories residents can give feedback about: economic development, work programs, broadband, housing, transportation, natural and cultural resources, land use, inter-governmental coordination, and facility and services. The community hasn’t won many grants, but Smith said the comprehensive plan is an important part of making sure the community is prepared for the future and to win grants down the line.
“Hopefully, it just keeps growing if we can find funding to do a lot of this, that’s the biggest thing,” Smith said. “You have to keep your plans up to date and see if stuff is still on track. If federal or state funding is available to complete some of these, maybe we can get those grants, and that’d be good.”
At its meeting Thursday night, the Walker County Board of Commissioners did not approve its comprehensive plan as was scheduled on the agenda. Shannon Whitfield, commission chair, said he noted there were several clerical errors on the plan, and commissioners wanted to fix those before the plan was approved.
The commission approved the decision to fix the errors in the plan and bring it back to be considered at next month’s meeting.
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / The newly-constructed tornado shelter at the Dade County Sports Complex in Trenton, Ga., on Friday, March 11, 2022.Dade County’s Townsend sees both sides of growth in Georgia’s smaller communities.
“Trenton is one of the smaller hometown towns, and we appreciate and guard that,” he said of the municipality that announces at the top of its website, “Your City For Family Living!”
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While residents often drive to Chattanooga to shop, he said the local government is still doing well from online shopping sales taxes. The city also benefits from sales taxes when drivers exit Interstate 59 to get gas and eat. And while there are no big box stores or a Super Walmart in Trenton, they do have several smaller grocery stores – the kind that he said have been put out of business by Walmart in other nearby communities.
Townsend said he really wants to get the word out about the survey as the community looks towards the future.
“It really is important,” he said. “It’s a way for the public to give their two cents on what’s in the plan.”
Contact Andrew Wilkins at awilkins@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow him on Twitter @tweetatwilkins.
Staff Photo by Matt Hamilton / The newly-constructed tornado shelter at the Dade County Sports Complex in Trenton, Ga., was built after residents said it was needed during a previous comprehensive plan process. It’s seen here on Friday, March 11, 2022.