The Guiding Hand

The purpose of the Council is to set a strategic direction used to guide administration in creating organizational change, operational strategy, and work plans to enable the community’s vision to unfold.

Creating a document to express clearly Council’s understanding of the community’s vision provides for an enhanced understanding by staff. The Council’s goals should aim to unleash innovation, foster creativity, and invite participation. The current Comprehensive Plan provides goals and objectives that guide the staff in decision making for nine different elements.

The Plan is organized into chapters that specifically address each of the nine elements required by the “Smart Growth” law. Each chapter presents background information on the respective element (e.g. Transportation, Land Use, Economic Development) and then presents an outline of the City’s goals, objectives, and policies for that element. These documented policies are the basis for the recommendations that are presented at the end of each chapter.

The final chapter (Implementation) of the document indicates proposed strategies and implementation timelines to ensure that the recommendations presented in this Plan become a reality.

In addition to providing sound public policy guidance, a comprehensive plan should also incorporate an inclusive public participation process to ensure that its recommendations reflect a broadly supported future vision. An extensive process of citizen review and approval is critical to the planning process. This includes not only formal requirements outlined in §66.1001, but also more informal mechanisms such as public workshops and meetings.