The Planning Commission will begin working on the Comprehensive, a.k.a.. Master Plan, this year. Councilman Christopher Tillman, liaison between the Planning Commission, the Mayor, and the City Council, relayed questions about the direction the Council wanted the Planning Commission to take for the City’s future development at the March Mayor and City Council meeting.
A Comprehensive Plan is an official document adopted by the City which spells out how the City will develop in the coming years. It includes maps of future land use, anticipated transportation and community facilities, policies for protecting environmental features, as well as addresses water and sewer usage and availability. Traditionally, the plan lasts 20 years and is reviewed every 10 years.
City Manager Jim Wieprecht said that the Planning Commission has met with a couple of consultant companies to aid in the creation of the Plan. He also suggested that having an open town hall style meeting with the Planning Commission, Mayor, City Council and the consultant would be a good idea to "kick off" the project. The meeting would allow the public to attend and have a direct say in the direction of the Plan. Tillman was adamant that the questions presented were "heavy and were about some major issues." "There will be a lot of discussion needed," he said.
Tillman gave an overview of the questions the public and the Council should expect at the future meeting. "The first and foremost question is the ‘small town feel’ everyone talks about since it is different for everyone." He asked how that could be translated into ordinances that help guide development within the City. These would be things like where commercial development can be mixed in with residential, what densities developments could be and how they should look, design standards including where and how to develop parking, and the width and layout of streets.
Carroll Vista and Meades Crossing communities were brought up as examples of community village overlay zoning and it was brought to question if this concept was something the Council wanted to keep in the Plan. Carroll Vista was the first community village development and they had a blanket exemption for alleys and rear loaded garages. According to Wieprecht, this has been a benefit as it is an age-restricted community. Concerns have been raised over the length of the driveways within the community. This is a hot topic for the Planning Commission, as many members feel they are too short, causing vehicles to extend into the sidewalk when parking on the pad.
Meades Crossing ended up with narrower streets and a higher density than a conventional subdivision and didn’t "check all the boxes" aesthetically that the community village overlay strives for. He explained that the City was willing to compromise to see the Meades Crossing development come to fruition. "We seem to be making zoning decisions based on what the developer is telling us will sell and not on the overlay," said Tillman. He pointed out that the results that were expected with the overlay were not what was received.
Other topics included adopting a plan to reuse existing buildings in the downtown area and what types of businesses and facades the public wants to see there. Additionally, water allocation restrictions need to be addressed as currently there are more projects on the drawing board than the City has in water allocation. "This begs the question, who is going to be responsible for making sure the infrastructure is in place for these projects, the City or the developers?" asked Tillman. There are also concerns about fire and police being understaffed and wondering if developments should be put on hold until they are fully staffed to accommodate new residents.
Tillman mentioned larger parcels in the City and their involvement with the projected bypass. "Is the City willing to trade infrastructure development in exchange for right of way or outright construction of bypass segments?" he asked. In his opinion, the only way the bypass will happen is with the assistance of private developments such as Mountain Brook, which was introduced last year.
"We are at a critical time because in our lifetime we will probably see the City encircled completely by agricultural preservation and we will not have the ability to do business as it has been done for the last 100 years," said Wieprecht. He asked what could be done now to guide growth to promote a sustainable, self-supporting pattern in the future.
