Boone County residents had an opportunity to share their thoughts on the county’s draft Master Plan at a public hearing in Centralia on Monday night. This was the first of three public hearings scheduled to gather community input before finalizing the plan.
The county’s Master Plan, which serves as a blueprint for future growth and development, has not been updated in over 25 years. Over the past year and a half, officials have been working to revise the plan to address Boone County’s expanding population and infrastructure needs.
While the plan covers a wide range of topics, one issue stood out among public comments—concerns about Route B. Nearly every community member who spoke at the hearing addressed the road’s capacity and safety.
“There are differing opinions on whether there’s capacity for additional development now or not. Some of that depends on when that traffic will blend with the morning and afternoon peak hours of traffic that we see as people go to work and come home from work at night,” a county representative said. “That’s something that we’re going to take back to our commissions and talk about.”
The feedback gathered from the hearings will be reviewed and incorporated into the plan before it goes to the Boone County Commission for final approval.
The next public hearing on the draft Master Plan will take place on March 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Ashland. Boone County residents are encouraged to attend and share their perspectives on the proposed updates.
You can find a copy of the master plan draft here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:df37aba6-5143-4ed4-98a3-842ea523862c?viewer%21megaVerb=group-discover
