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we all have to be committed to educating the people and making sure they have an opportunity to understand what is happening. Barry Katz said that the national election would be drawing everyone's attention in 2004, so this needs to be out in the open in January and February. Hunter Schofield said that it is a little paradoxical. He said that it was easy and that if you want to inform people, and then send them a letter. He said that it would not take long to produce a list of landowners that this would affect. He said that what is paradoxical is that we want to inform people, but we may not want to bring out everybody. The County may not be prepared to deal with the types of reactions that may come up. He said that we need to decide what to do -take this incremental step, or inform everyone with a letter. Craig Benedict said that with direction from the boards, he needs to go out in the short term and start the ball rolling. He is willing to go out to each township and meet with people, but he needs to get going on it. Barry Katz said that it is true we should have meetings in the townships. He said that leaders should be developed in each township -people whose opinions really count. He agrees with having simple language, but that it should be very carefully worded. He wants it to be as transparent as possible. Noah Ranells said that he would much prefer going fonrvard and going out with information well prepared and pick up a few example tracts of land and apply the new zoning suggestions to it and show the scenario. He said that he would be uncomfortable with anticipating a groundswell of negative responses. He said that it was important to engage the people in the rural communities. Barry Katz said that he wants this to succeed on its merits. He is concerned that this issue might be taken up by people who have other agendas. He thinks that this is a good possibility. Commissioner Jacobs said that we represent the whole County and we are focusing too much on outreach to rural areas. He said that there are people in urban areas that care about land use. He thinks it is a mistake to not focus on the whole County. Commissioner Halkiotis said that we have to be ready for the negative responses. He thanked Barry Katz for bringing up this point. Commissioner Carey said that we often get ourselves involved in things that become contentious. He thinks it is important to get started with a clear message. He said that he believes that the members of the Board of County Commissioners make decisions based on what they think is in the best interest of the entire County and not just one area. He said that if the Board only made decisions based on what was heard solely at public hearings, there probably would not be zoned townships or Cane Creek. John Link reminded the Board how they went about protecting the watersheds about ten years ago. He said that Mary Willis and others went out and provided a straightforward message. He said that the comprehensive planning process has not been addressed in 20+ years, and during this time air quality has gone down and traffic has gone up. This is the type of straightforward message that should be conveyed.