Committee approves community development plan

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

Hurley — The process of developing Iron County’s Asset Based Community Development strategy is nearly complete, after the Iron County Comprehensive Planning, Land and Zoning Committee forwarded a draft onto the full county board for final approval.

The plan is a replacement of the county’s former comprehensive plan, according to committee member Brad Matson.

“In the past, it was goal-oriented with no reference to where you were coming from and, ‘Is that (goal) realistic,’ Matson told the Daily Globe after the meeting. “With the asset-based plan, you start with what you have and figure how you can build on that and can you use what you have to advance your goals.”

During the meeting, Matson said past plans would sometimes set development goals that were “pie in the sky”; whereas the latest draft starts with all the assets the county has to offer and therefore the targets are more achievable.

“This is taking into account what we have and what we can possibly do,” he said, adding he hopes this change will also mean the plan is used more, rather than simply gathering dust on a shelf.

The plan includes a wide variety of assets — including the county’s natural and cultural resources — and doesn’t necessarily stop at the county’s borders.

One asset in the plan discussed during the public hearing prior to the draft’s approval was the development of Copper Peak and the positive impact the return of sky flying could have to Iron County’s tourism industry even though the facility itself is in Ironwood Township.

“This plan from the beginning has not been Iron County locked in at its borders,” Matson said.

The county is required to update its plan every five years and revise it every 10 years, according to Matson.

It was the time for our rewrite,” he said after the meeting.

During the meeting, he also thanked the various people who worked on the plan over the past two or three years it took to create the document.

In other action:

—The committee discussed what surface material should be used at the former Thomas service station site in the city of Montreal. The county owns the property, according to information presented at the meeting, and the contaminated soil is being removed and replaced with clean fill. No decision was made on the surface material, as the committee decided more information was needed on options and prices. The county will also check with the city of Montreal to see if its officials had any opinions on what the property — located on the south side of Wisconsin 77 just east of the Montreal River — should be used for.

—The committee kept the price of plat books at $35 for the 2018 editions, while lowering the price of the 2015 plat books to $25 in an effort to get rid of the remaining inventory.

—The committee accepted the department’s annual report.