In order to thrive, a community needs a vision and a plan.

Those are the first words one sees when perusing a website dedicated to the Village Plan 2022.

“Unlike incorporated areas, we do not have funding or staff to undertake the work necessary for our Community Vision Statement and Community Plan. But we do have time, treasure, and extraordinarily capable and directly relevant talent in this community,” the website states.

In late 2020, an ad hoc commit­tee was formed through the Big Park Regional Coordinating Council to work with the citizens and businesses to develop a vision and community plan. The committee is comprised of 17 core members and more than 35 contribut­ing community members. As part of this endeavor, residents have been asked to complete a community-specific survey.

The purpose of the survey is to gather a broad sampling of perspectives from residents to compose a community Vision Statement that articulates a “resident’s view” of the unique, intrin­sic characteristics of the community, a press release states. This statement has been requested by Yavapai County Development Services as part of its 10-year update to the County Compre­hensive Plan, which is mandated by the state.

BPRCC President Camille Cox said there are two parts to the assignment from the county for what they call Comprehensive Plan Update 2032 for Yavapai County. They refer to them as the Vision Statement and the Commu­nity Plan.

The unincorporated communities are asked to address eight prescribed topics in the Plan, which are the same that the County is mandated to address in its Comprehensive Plan.

“The idea is that what comes from the communities will track with the Comprehensive Plan,” she said.

The purpose of the first survey is to gather input for the Vision Statement. That is the first deliverable document the county requested.

There will be additional surveys to gather input on 10 specific topical areas, based on research, discussions and drafts by the committee task groups. Those topical areas are land use, transportation, environmental, water resources, open space, energy, cost of development, growth areas, parks and recreation, schools, business and economics.

“The task groups do the background research and drafting of their topic, bring drafts to the full committee for review, and eventually a final draft is produced by consensus for the commu­nity review and comment,” Cox said.

“The survey data will be compiled, analyzed and reported to the community. Both the Vision Statement and Community Plan drafts will be vetted with the community prior to finalization.”

For more information, visit villageplan2022.org.