06.02 - Comprehensive Plan Update

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INSTITUTE Toll Free 866.900.3064 Fax 866.924.1928 MEMORANDUM Date: February 1, 2012 To: Mayor and City Council Cc: Planning Commission Re: Comprehensive Plan At the last City Council meeting, Chair Pederson addressed the City Council and requested from those members who would not vote to approve the updated Comprehensive Plans to identify their specific concerns. Councilor Ryan provided the following six points of concern, which we address here and would like to see discussed at the upcoming Council meeting: • No provision for development along bypass • Park plan does not address a ball park • Same action items in multiple locations • Americans love autos — we can't change that mentality, social engineering • Plan is contradictory we want rural character but then put a highway through the rural area • We are making it less likely that people will come to town The following responses are provided for discussion purposes. Note that the Comprehensive Plan requires a 4 /5ths vote to approve. We would like to address the concerns of Council members so that we can get the plan approved. 1. No provision for development along bypass The Comprehensive Plan does call for development along the alternate route. The Future Land Use Plan (page 49) contemplates a mixture of commercial, industrial, forestry and agriculture along the corridor. While it is true that the plan does not provide for strip commercial development along the corridor, with frontage roads and utilities, it is not true to say that there are no provisions for development. The City Council adopted a resolution indicating that there would be no extension of utilities to the alternate route alignment. There were many reasons cited, but primarily because it would be cost prohibitive and the public's return on the investment was found to be negative, even under the best WWW.COMMUNITYGROWTH.COM WWW.STRONGTOWNS.ORG