News
Perry's Master Plan
Email this story | Print this story
Sunday, August 24, 2008 12:08 AM EDT
PERRY - The city of Perry is closing in on the date where they will approve their master plan, but they are still hoping to get more public feedback before then.
A city's master plan is defined by the Michigan Planning Enabling Act 2008 (MPEA) as, “A land use and infrastructure plan that sets forth local goals, objectives, and policies for community growth and/or redevelopment over the next 20-30 years.”
And the plan has been a long time coming. It has been in the works with Perry's Planning Commission since early 2007.
“The special thanks really goes to Planning Commission Vice Chairman Brad Sharlow. He took the old plan, dissected it and put it all back together,” Planning Commission Chairman John Plowman said. “We spent many evenings going over each chapter.”
The city's plan goes from 2008 to 2035, but the city master plans are supposed to be updated every five years.
“(Updating the plane every five years) is something that has not really been enforced,” Sharlow said. “A lot of small communities have very difficult times finding the resources and finances to update it every five years.”
It was in 1994 that the city's master plan was last updated.
The plan is divided into many different sections, such as library, transportation, zoning, business and industry, public utilities and much more. Each section will then list its goals and what actions will be made in the future to achieve those goals.
As of July 13, the planning process has gone into public comment period, a 90-day process. During this period, the Planning Commission takes public comments on the current plan for possible revisions before it is sent to be approved by the city council. The period ends on Oct. 13.
“One things we have to keep in mind is that this master plan is a community view, not an individual view,” Sharlow said. “So we have to have a significant group of the comment that is in favor of a certain goal or objective in order to put it in the document. You can't put each individual's personal interests in there.”
On Aug. 13, the City of Perry held a public forum where members of the Planning Commission put on a Powerpoint presentation to inform the public on the city's plan. The Planning Commission hoped to gain more feedback and questions from the public at the forum, however, the turnout was not as good as hoped. About 20 people came to the forum, with most of them being public officials. At the end of the forum, citizens were given feedback forums to fill out.
“At this point we have received very little feedback from the general public,” Sharlow said. “Part of that is because people - in general - tend to be reactive to changes. The point of a master plan is to be proactive.”
However, the Planning Commission is doing all that it can to make the public aware of the plan. Anyone can view the extensive on the city's Web site, www.perry.mi.us. CDs and paper copies of the document and the Powerpoint are also available upon request at the city hall, located at 203 West Polly Street. DVDs of the public forum will also become available upon request.
The council hopes to adopt the plan by Oct. 21.
“As the document stands, this is where the direction the community wants to move foreword,” Sharlow said. “The reason it needs to be updated every five years - instead of 30 - is that things change. Maybe what we thought was an important goal in 2008, something else may occur in 2012 that takes more of a precedence. We will base it on the wants and needs of the community at that time.”
- Contact Michael Peterson at 725-5136 extension 223 or mpetersonarguspress@gmail.com.
bob wrote on Aug 24, 2008 6:41 PM: