Public officials and community members gathered at The Art Center in Blue Ridge for the Fannin County Joint Comprehensive Plan Stakeholders Meeting Thursday, February 24.
The meeting was an attempt at gathering as much perspective about the community as possible, and specifically, to identify each municipalities’ and the county’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
These characteristics will be used by the North West Georgia Regional Commission (NWGRC), who facilitated the meeting, to develop a county-wide five-year comprehensive plan.
Officials from Fannin County, McCaysville, Blue Ridge and Morganton attended with several citizens from each location.
NWGRC Senior Planner Gretchen Lugthart explained that the plan will not be “written in stone” but serves as a guide for officials as they make decisions throughout their tenure.
“What we do in these meetings, it does matter,” Fannin County Chamber of Commerce President Christie Gribble said. “It matters when you’re going after grants, and it’s (specific needs are) in your plan.”
Additionally, Lugthart presented a slide show with statistics and trends for the area. The statistics were gathered from the 2020 US Census data while the trends were gathered from the Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget.
By 2030, the county’s population is expected to peak, and then, it will decline by nearly 9,000 residents. Lugthart said this could be due to the large Baby Boomer population.
The county ranks number three in the state for vacant housing units with 37% of the total 17,643 units being cited. Vacant units include all homes that are not used as a primary residences such as short-term rentals and second homes.
In 2021, 1.4 million people visited Fannin County.
The City of McCaysville was the only municipality to see a significant increase in population in the last 20 years.
A second stakeholders meeting will be held Thursday, March 24, at 6 p.m. at The Art Center, and all are invited to attend.