ARABI — Area residents will have a chance to learn about a draft 20-year comprehensive plan for greater Crisp County at a public meeting scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday here at Arabi City Hall.

The draft plan, weighing in at more than 80 pages, has been prepared by the Middle Flint Regional Development Center (RDC) and covers virtually every aspect of local government for the cities of Arabi and Cordele as well as for Crisp County.

The document, which can be accessed at Middle Flint RDC’s website (www.middleflintrdc.org /downloads.htm) also identifies several opportunities for the community as a whole, including the possible designation of Crisp County as an inland port and the development of a permanent Darton College satellite campus.

Issues that need to be addressed are also identified in the draft, some of which are:

• a high teen pregnancy rate

• inadequate housing options

• high poverty and unemployment rates, and

• traffic congestion on 16th Ave.

Among other things, the draft plan also identifies land use trends in the county, and predicts continued growth in certain parts of Crisp. According to the document, “The two areas believed to be most likely to experience rapid development are the I-75/Ga. 300 interchange (exit 99) and the Smoak Bridge vicinity of Lake Blackshear.”

Monday’s hearing in Arabi will be the first of five hearings to be conducted throughout Crisp County between now and the end of February 2009.

This is not the community’s first foray into long-range planning. According to the draft plan, the community’s first comprehensive plan was adopted in 1995, and the draft document to be reviewed Monday will serve as a guide for local development activities in response to state mandates for comprehensive planning.