Official Community Plan

The Official Community Plan is a land-use planning tool that is used to guide Town Council in its decisions about development, zoning, and services. In 2016-2017, the Official Community Plan was developed in consultation with the public, to be sure that public opinion and interest on issues of future planning were taken into account.

The Official Community Plan delineates Policy, which Council and the public can then use to evaluate development proposals and ensure they are consistent with the community’s long-range plans. The Plan is reviewed and updated periodically to ensure that it continues to reflect the long-range planning objectives of the Town of Creston, on behalf of residents.

The first phase of the Official Community Plan public consultation engaged hundreds of people of all ages in discussing and refining goals for future land use through Kitchen Table Talks and one-on-one interviews at community celebrations and events. Phase two, the OCP Challenge, was a chance to involve citizens in setting direction for actually pursuing those goals.

Creston’s OCP Challenge was an experiment in community planning and in rural placemaking. The process used a mobile app, a website, and paper scavenger hunt maps to get citizens exploring community issues and the community itself. They were directed to locations around Creston where Challenge Stations invited targeted feedback on specific municipal issues.

All told, we estimate that nearly 1,200 area residents contributed directly to the OCP. Participants have been as young as six (some outreach took part in local elementary schools) and older than 100 (outreach also took part in seniors homes). On average, a participant put 101 minutes into the process – a number that speaks to the depth of engagement achieved.

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