A word cloud produced by the Borough to ask people the word which comes to mind when they think of Petersburg.
The Petersburg Comprehensive Plan Comment Period closing date has been delayed again, this time till September 30th. Consultants drafting the plan were supposed to arrive in Petersburg this week but have pushed that date back as well to the week of September 21st.
Shelly Wade of the consulting company Agnew Beck who are behind the plan says summer just wasn’t the right time to close the comment period.
“As you very well know summer is a very busy time in Petersburg so to have had a comment period that ended during that busy season was a choice that we made initially hoping that we would still be able to gain some feedback,” she said. “Now thinking about use of resources it seemed to make a lot better sense to do the delay and instead wait till most folks that have been out of Petersburg or fishing are back in Petersburg and are able to provide feedback.”
Wade says they have only received about 25 comments so far which range in length and depth. However it isn’t how many comments but people who provide them that’s important for the plan going forward
“There’s no magic number. We’re just hoping we hear from a representative group of folks. The business community, the commercial fishing community, youth, seniors, folks that live inside service area one, folks that live outside service area one,” she said.
She says they are hoping to stay on track with the publication of the plan but they understand why people might leave it till the last minute.
“I think that’s human nature,” she said.
But she hopes their eventual visit will encourage people to come forward
“Having us there in person and having someone talking with you and asking for your feedback in person will be helpful and elicit more feedback in response,” she said.
Wade thinks this will be the final delay and looks forward to coming to Petersburg in September.
