A 18-month process in developing plans designed to help Barrow County and its cities prepare to meet growth demands of today and 20 years into the future will move a step closer to completion Tuesday.

At the 7 p.m. meeting of the Barrow County Board of Commissioners, the consulting firms which have worked with Barrow County and the cities of Auburn, Bethlehem, Carl, Statham and Winder as well as Braselton in some planning considerations will make final presentations.

The Barrow County Comprehensive Plan 2007-2027 will be presented by MACTEC Engineering and the Comprehensive Transportation Plan with the Supplemental Study of Cross-County Route will be presented by representations of Jacobs Carter Burgess.

Previously Marta Rosen of Jacobs Carter Burgess had given the commission a briefing on the highlights of the supplemental study which offers short-term transportation project options to help address the community's traffic issues.

By working on the two state-mandated plans simultaneously, Barrow County was able to coordinate the data-gathering and public input information, said Barrow County Planning Director Guy Herring.

"This process has been a great opportunity for the community to provide public input," said Herring.

"We had good turnout for the stakeholders' meetings and the four regional meetings on the Comprehensive Plan," said Herring, who indicates identifying where certain land use is targeted helps the community to know where to invest its infrastructure dollars to support economic development.

In light of the West Winder Bypass being unfunded in the Georgia Department of Transportation's budget crisis, Herring said the supplemental study provides some good options, especially for projects to help move traffic around Winder, rather than through downtown, if the traffic is not destination traffic.

Mobility around the community is what the supplemental study is designed to improve.

While the funding for the bypass - which would connect Highway 316 to the industrial corridor along Highway 8 and Bankhead Highway and proceed to Highway 211 to connect to Interstate 85 - is short, Herring suggests the study's traffic count data supports need to being phasing in the bypass as funds permit.

The bypass route includes a much-needed overapass, said Herring.

Two dozen different sessions have gone into the gathering of information and followup comments to produce the final document which has got the nod from the Northeast Georgia Regional Development Center (RDC).

He said he is hopeful turnout for Tuesday's final presentation will be good.

After Tuesday's presentation, each of Barrow County's municipalities will consider resolutions for adoption. Those public hearings are now being advertised in The Barrow County News, the legal organ for the community.

Bethlehem Town Council would consider the resolution at their Aug. 4 meeting while the City of Winder Council would have the item on the Aug. 5 agenda.

The Statham Council's next regular meeting is Aug. 19 and Auburn and Carl would have the resolution on their respective Aug. 21 meeting agendas.

That would be the final official steps before the documents return to the Board of Commisioners on Aug. 26.

Originally published Sunday, July 20, 2008