Missoula County officials will be holding more public meetings in February and March to hear from county residents about long range planning.

Senior planner with Missoula County's Department of Community Planning Services, Nancy Heil, said public meetings last fall got the ball rolling with a long range plan for county development.

"Last fall, the county and our consulting team held a series of listening sessions in eight different areas of the county to hear about what issues they are concerned with," Heil said. "So, what we did was to take what we heard and draft some goals and objectives for our growth policy which serves as the county's long-range plan for growth development and conservation."

The goals and objectives have been released on a website, to be followed by a round of public meetings.

"We'll hold those meetings in late February and early March to talk some more about those goals and objectives,and then consider what action strategies would be appropriate," she said. "

Some of the topics covered include open space and natural resources, recreational opportunities, rural lifestyle and friendly communities and economic development.

The questions Heil said will be addressed include 'what about these issues are important?' and 'what should the county be doing to address these issues?'.

A link to the website is included here.

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