First citizen meeting coming in August

“It’s going to be a busy year. It’s going to be a busy nine months, but we think it’s going to pay dividends for the next ten (years).”

That was a statement made by Fairview City Manager Scott Collins in regards to the process of completing Fairview’s 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

Collins reported to the City Commission, “We are fully underway with the comprehensive plan.”

After budgeting approximately $100,000 for the plan, the city selected Common Ground Design, out of Franklin, as the engineering firm to complete the plan.

The next step requires meetings to gather essential information. “We established some dates for the next eight months for work to be done,” stated Collins. Those dates include a total of four public meetings and one staff meeting.

A June meeting included a physical tour of the city, and was followed up with a July all-day meeting between city staff and the engineering firm.

The official public kick-off meeting and ‘Visioning Event’ is scheduled for Monday, August 20. That meeting will allow citizens to better understand the process and goal of the plan.

A public, hands-on, planning meeting will be held in October for citizen input, according to Collins. Taking all information gathered, the engineering firm will work to compose the plan over three months.

Citizens are projected to get their first look at the comprehensive plan draft at an open house event in February 2019.

The 2035 Comprehensive Plan will be designed to help the city take the appropriate steps to achieve pre-determined goals. The actual process to complete the plan process includes a close look at Fairview’s transportation, utilities, land use, recreation and housing situation. Once information is compiled, the new comprehensive plan will recommend actions to achieve those goals.

The comprehensive plan data collection starts with the community establishing goals in terms of future community development. Those goals will be determined following a public meeting which is scheduled to take place in August.

 

The city staff anticipates the plan will help:

• To identify the city’s vision for its future growth and development.

• To serve as decision making guide for the city’s Board of Commissioners and the city’s administration.

• To make modifications to the city’s land use map, zoning classifications, and residential & commercial growth districts.

• To revise the city’s zoning ordinances, subdivision regulations, sign ordinance and design standards.

• Serve as a framework for the city’s transportation and infrastructure plan.

• With the identification of future retail and economic development districts.

• As an assessment of future recreational needs and opportunities for the city.

•Serve as a guide for the prioritization and allocation of capital & operational resources.

 

The comprehensive plan will include measurable goals, objectives, and target metrics so success can be verified in the coming years. In completed on scheduled, the new plan will serve as a valuable resource for future planning, development and budgeting as the City prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary in July 2019.

Collins left the decision on whether to establish a citizens committee to provide input on the plan up to the city commission members. He also advised the commissioners, if they choose to establish the committee, to consider how they would like to appoint citizen members. Their ideas will be discussed at the July 19 board meeting.

“It’s a rewarding process, but it’s not an easy process,” advised Collins. He encouraged the city commission to keep open lines of communication to ensure the success of the process.

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