The Georgia Planning Act of 1989 requires local governments to update their local comprehensive plan every ten years.  Bartow County and the Cities of Adairsville, Emerson, Euharlee, Kingston, Taylorsville and White have prepared the Community Agenda portion of the Local Joint Comprehensive Plan update for submittal to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs for review and approval.

The plan has been visited by local officials and the general citizenry of Bartow County in an effort to establish priority planning areas such as transportation, public utilities, land use, public safety, economic development and housing.

A citizen input survey was developed and published in the local newspaper and placed at various public locations, including libraries, city halls, the courthouse and senior citizens centers.  The data collected from this public survey was compiled by the A L. Burruss Institute, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA.

Stakeholder Input Meeting on Thursday, April 26.  This meeting was held in order to review the specific goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan.  Various organizations and agencies within Bartow County representing various areas of interest were invited to comment on specific sections of the plan as well as to review ideas for collaboration.  Finally, members of the stakeholder group provided a review of the public survey.

Focus Group Meeting with Community Leaders on May 24, 2007:  Focus groups with individuals representing useful perspectives on local development was held in order to obtain their input on the goals and strategies of the Comprehensive Plan. These individuals were not drawn from public officials; instead they represented other individual interests from around the county.  Officials from each local government were asked to recommend a number of representatives from their locality. Breakout groups of general topics resulted in each group's presentation of  summaries of their discussions to the general audience. 

Open Forum for General Citizenry on June 28, 2007:  An open forum was held at the Civic Center where members of the general public reviewed the Comprehensive Plan, asked questions of local officials and voiced their concerns about the Plan.  Executive summaries of the plan, enlarged maps and other information was made available for citizen review.  The Open Forum was advertised in local newspapers and posters informing citizens of the time and location of the forum was placed in public buildings. A survey of attendees was conducted at the forum.

Final Public Hearing for Community Input on October 30, 2007:  A public hearing was held in the Commissioner's Conference Room, located at 135 West Cherokee Avenue, Cartersville, Georgia.  The purpose of the hearing was to receive community inquiry and input regarding the Community Agenda portion of the Comprehensive Plan.  Copies of the Agenda and accompanying maps were available for review at the hearing.

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Additional information from the general citizenry was collected by conducting a survey of citizens.  This was a paper-and-pencil survey designed and made available at public sites during the summer of 2007.  Citizens were asked about their opinions on Quality of Life in Bartow County, Growth Management Issues, Environmental Concerns, Infrastructure Concerns, Educational Issues and other issues.  A copy of the survey was published in local newspapers.  Advertisement of the link to the online survey was posted in public areas.  The Burruss Institute of Public Service and Research at Kennesaw State University was responsible for collection, coding, analysis and presentation of public data.