City staff are beginning a process to update and improve the comprehensive plan, a guiding document which establishes a coordinated set of objectives, policies and guidelines to help the city tackle growth and development issues in a consistent manner.
Salida’s aging comp plan coupled with enough city administrators in the past four years to field a basketball team has led to a lack of clear vision and direction. Having reached a measure of stability with the hiring of Administrator Lewis, the City is now turning to a structured process for updating and revising the comp plan.
An effective comprehensive plan is an important decision-making tool for the City. “It should help the city council set priorities for long-range capital projects, it should help the planning commission provide direction for updates to the land use code, and it should help everyone understand where we’re falling short or need to focus additional energy,” said Community Development Director Dara MacDonald.
“If we can clearly identify overall goals and implementation priorities and then review those annually, we will be three steps ahead when it comes to identifying budget priorities and citizen requests,” said MacDonald.
State statutes direct communities to draft a comprehensive plan in a mandate which encompasses more than just land use:
The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the municipality and its environs which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, order, convenience, prosperity, and general welfare, as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, including, among other things, adequate provision for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire, flood waters, and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, distribution of population, affordable housing, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, efficient expenditure of public funds, the promotion of energy conservation, and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.
Salida’s current comp plan was approved in 2000 and uses plain language to talk about the importance of creating community gateways, employment opportunities, affordable housing for residents, a vital and exciting downtown and protections for natural areas.
Nearly a decade old, however, the existing plan is getting a bit long in the tooth. For example, it identifies the need to protect Salida’s historic downtown, improve the Highway 50 corridor and update the sign code, but it hasn’t been updated to acknowledge the creation of the Historic Preservation Commission, the implementation of the Highway 50 pedestrian improvements or the changes made to the City sign ordinance.
Staff will solicit opinions from the community beginning this week with an online survey (a dead-tree version was mailed to residents on Monday). Among other things, the online survey asks respondents to rank city priorities, list favorite places, choose improvements for local transportation and report steps taken to reduce environmental impacts.
Survey results will be discussed at a kick-off meeting December 8 at the SteamPlant. Residents should expect to see meetings and workshops designed to gather and refine local opinions and attitudes continue in 2010.
MacDonald expects that the process will be complete by early to mid-summer, culminating with the adoption of a revised plan by the City Council. Moving forward, the City is likely to make incremental changes to the non-binding plan annually and engage in a larger, more formal process every decade or so.
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