Ten years ago a group of people got together, politicians and concerned citizens alike, and made a decision that Newton County, inevitably, was going to grow.

They decided if that was going to happen there needed to be a plan in place that would insure the county grew in an orderly fashion and in a fashion that would attract business and insure the county’s economic growth.

Getting politicians to leave their egos at the door and work hand-in-hand with local citizens to insure a workable plan was designed was not an easy thing to do.

But it happened.

The result of those meetings was the 2050 plan.

By design, the basic elements of the plan were not hashed out in the public.

It was hard for us at The News, at first, to accept that premise. But as time passed we came to understand the reasons why.

Once a year the group that is responsible for the development of the plan has an open meeting to discuss the progress of the planning.

The Covington News supports the concept of the 2050 plan, and we salute the folks who have from time to time served to develop the plan to this point.

Our own publisher, who is Chairman of the Rockdale County Chamber of Commerce helped introduce a similar program in that county, and the chamber has hired Newton’s Kay Lee to help their collaborative get off the ground.

There has been some controversy about the plans laid out for the 2050 Plan and the Brickstore Overlay, and in response there will be five public meetings held throughout the next month. You can go to covnews.com to see the dates, places and times of these meetings.

We suspect that many of the folks who are raising Cain about the proposed plans have never seen or heard what the plans are for the overlay districts. Most of their information is coming from gossip and standing around at cocktail parties.
We strongly suggest that if you have an interest in what the 2050 plan proposes that you attend one or more of these meetings. If, after you have attended, you disagree with the plan, that’s your right. You also, then, have a right to oppose the plan.

But until you make your mind up because you have personally heard the plan, you should keep your comments to yourself.

Make no mistake about it, Newton County is going to grow. It can grow Helter Skelter or it can grow in an organized, progressive way that insures that we will live in a county that has the resources to support us and and our families for years to come.