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Hancock County Plans Future

The Hancock County Board has approved a new comprehensive plan.

The county received a grant to cover the cost of creating a comprehensive plan as part of the aid recovery package after the 2008 floods.  

The Western Illinois Regional Councildeveloped the document.

“It includes the history and geography of the county,” WIRC Executive Director Suzan Nash said. “We did an extensive survey of over 2,000 residents of the county to gain what the county residents' perceptions were of services and strengths and weaknesses of the county.”

Nash said the plan includes several goals and recommendations for ways Hancock County can grow and develop.

The plan focuses on a variety of factors:

  • Economic development
  • Infrastructure
  • Housing
  • Vocational training
  • Historic preservation
  • Nature resources

“They want to expand their economic development programs and there were some strategies in relation to that,” Nash said. “They want to give further consideration to some potential areas of weakness including housing rehabilitation efforts.”
She said it’s now up to the county to implement the prescribed strategies and projects.

“We developed strategies and specific projects for them to consider and to utilize as a road map to move from where they are now to where they want to be in 3 to 5 years,” Nash said.

Emily Boyer is a former reporter at Tri States Public Radio.