A comprehensive plan is described as an official document that explains the goals, objectives and strategies of an area by its residents for both the immediate and long term future, and it is something the village of Urbancrest wants to put in place during the upcoming year.
At the Nov. 4 council meeting, officials approved a resolution that would allow the village to seek financial assistance through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant to help kick start the process.
With the collaboration of development company Stantec, the village hopes to begin gathering information for the comprehensive plan as soon as February.
"This is a project where we need as much input from the community as possible," said George Groom, a planner with Stantec. Groom. He, along with two other Stantec planners, were at a special meeting on Oct. 24 to discuss these plans with village council members.
Through a series of public meetings, residents will be asked to give their honest opinions about what they like in the area, what they dislike, what they would like to see put up, taken down and how they envision their community in five, 10 or even 20 years.
"The community has ownership of the project," said Stantec planner Aaron Schill. "In the past, other areas have used their comprehensive plans basically as a paperweight, but we expect this one will be something used for the community and will be able to get results out of it."
Council is requesting $75,000 from the Community Development Block Grant for the implementation of the comprehensive plan.
In other news
Developer Steve Pagura was at the Nov. 4 meeting to discuss the possibility of constructing a Columbia Gas building on Lewis Center Way, located north of the Merry Milk Maid site.
"It’s not a manufacturing building, so it will be very clean use," he said.
The proposed building would be developed on a five acre site at a cost of $550,000 for both the construction and the land use, but also feature a 120 foot communication guide tower that would cost $1 million to build.
"It is not a cell phone tower," Pagura said. "It is a two way radio and voice data recorder used for the communication for their company trucks. It (the tower) is also not for profit."
He added the company has a $1.5 million payroll, which would be a boom for the economy of Urbancrest and would even hire local workers to their staff, providing they are able to drive two ton trucks and have their commercial drivers license.
Council brought up the potential issue of increased noise due to their trucks, but Pagura said, "they plug them it, start it up and go. We do not let them sit idle for a few hours before jumping in their trucks."
Urbancrest officials stated that while this sounds like a good project, they want to discuss construction and site plans further before making a decision.
