Warren County is updating its master plan and it is looking for public input in the form of an online survey to be completed by Feb. 28.

According to Presiding Commissioner Joe Gildehaus, the current county master plan was originally drafted in 2003 and was updated in 2011.

“We decided several months ago we needed to update the master plan for the county,” he said.

Gildehaus said they put the project up for bid and ultimately selected i5Group to oversee the project.

Gildehaus said the i5Group has worked on other master plans in Missouri, most recently in Boone County. He said the project costs roughly $195,000 and will take approximately 16-24 months to complete.

Gildehaus said the project is still in the early phases, as i5 has met with several local stakeholders including first responders, municipalities and other leaders from around the area. He said a master plan advisory committee has been formed that includes several area stakeholders including the commission, planning and zoning and the mayors of each municipality in the county.

From its initial research the i5Group has been able to provide information on a wide variety of data points, which it presented to the county commission during its meeting Feb. 5. Gildehaus said information provided by i5Group included items like population trends, workforce calculations, traffic data and other information that outlines overall growth metrics.

Commissioner Dave Mikus said when the commissioners originally performed their due diligence in researching the i5Group they had just completed the work in Boone County.

“It was an extensive and well thought out plan,” Mikus said of the plan provided to Boone County.

“These people (i5Group) are professional and they give you good statistics,” Gildehaus said.

He said as the community grows and more people move to Warren County to take advantage of the many amenities the area has to offer, an updated master plan will be a good guide moving forward.

Gildehaus said the county is currently in the survey phase of the process and the county is recommending residents to go online and fill out the survey. The survey should take approximately 10 minutes to fill out.

“I hope people take the survey and think about it,” Gildehaus said.

Mikus said he personally felt it was very important to hear from the community on the plan.

The survey is located at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WarrenCountySurvey

According to the website the new master plan would help guide growth and development in the county for the next 10 to 20 years. It would also serve as a guide for the county for zoning decisions, land development regulations, transportation improvements, budgeting and coordination of infrastructure amongst other goals.

Gildehaus said that once the county finalizes a master plan it would be something that could be updated every three to five years to continue to meet the needs of the county as a whole.

He added that the commissioners will normally be meeting with representatives from i5Group each Thursday at 11 a.m. in the commission chambers located at the County Administration Building at 101 Mockingbird Lane in Warrenton.

There will also be an open house on the master plan at the administration building March 25 from 4:30 to 7 p.m.