By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BURLINGTON - Protected or maintained.

These words are at the center of a semantics debate that left Boone County and its three cities with two separate sets of guidelines for growth five years ago.

Now planners have merged the 14 paragraphs where the city and county differ into one streamlined set of goals and objectives for the 2005 update of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

"We just stepped back and looked at what are we trying to say and turned it into a simple sentence," said Dave Geohegan, director of planning services for the county's planning commission. "I think the end result is more clear, more understandable."

For example, a 29-word county and 31-word city objective in the 2000 plan about innovative design was changed to nine words: "Innovative development design methods shall continue to be pursued."

The county has just begun the year-long process of updating the plan, the document that guides development in the county. The plan, which is updated every five years, is the legal basis of the county's zoning, which is updated after the plan is adopted.

The draft of the 2005 goals and objects were written with input from about 35 people at a public meeting last month, planners, and the Planning Commission's comprehensive-plan committee.

In 2000, it took a year to finish the goals and objectives because of debates over such words as "shall" and "should." In the end, three cities and the county adopted different goals and objectives.

For instance, a goal about the environment in the county's version said development is done so that "the existing physical environment and social environment are maintained and enhanced." The city's version said "are protected and enhanced." The new version simple says "enhanced."

There are also six new objectives, including assessing the impact of residential development on nearby farms, traffic studies to assess the impact of development, considering farmers when building roads water and sewers, and assessing the county's historic buildings.

"We are making more changes than we anticipated," Geohegan said, "but they are not major changes."

Residents can have their say on the goals and objectives at a public workshop Tuesday at the Boone County Cooperative Extension Service.

Comments can also be e-mailed to the Planning Commission.

After the comprehensive-plan committee adopts the goals and objectives, it will send it to the full Planning Commission. If it is approved, it will then go to the county's legislative bodies for approval.

Once the goals and objectives are adopted, the commission will move on to other elements of the plan, including land use.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com