With less than a month before the county's blueprint for future growth makes a public debut, observers worry the once-a-decade plan is being crafted without enough citizen input.

County bureaucrats have drawn up policies behind closed doors. They asked residents on an advisory panel - created last year in the wake of complaints about lack of citizen input - not to circulate any of the documents explaining ideas under consideration.

And while that citizen panel is encouraged to provide feedback, long-range planning administrator Lynn Miller told them last week: "We will review your comments and incorporate them as we see...