As the City of Holbrook looks to lay a strong foundation for future development, Mayor Kathleen Smith is looking for community involvement in creating the city’s general plan. “The purpose of the general plan is to support the community’s vision of what we should look like in 10 years and into the future. So, we also want to identify some community goals and development objective. We also want to fulfill state legal requirements,” noted Smith.
Despite state statute put in place in 1998 requiring cities to have a general plan in place, Holbrook has never implemented one. When asked as to why Smith stated, “I think there’s a lot of new laws that get introduced every year at the state level. I think some things are going to fall through the cracks. Not intentionally, but it happens. However, now that we’ve been made aware of it, we need to correct it.”
There are two elemental requirements that the general plan must include. “One is a circulation element, which basically shows the location and general extent of existing and proposed freeways, streets, bicycle routes, and any other modes of transportation. The second element is called an ‘open space element,’ which includes a comprehensive inventory of all our open space areas, residential resources, designation of access points to open space, areas of resources,” stated Smith, who added that other features can be added, but these are the ones required by law.
Smith explained that the city will be forming multiple community committees for the creation of the general plan. Some members will be selected based on their position in the community, and others will be on a volunteer basis. “There’ll be a stakeholder committee, which will include some residents, landowners, major employers and business owners, civic organizations, educational and civic leaders. Others we will be looking for will be volunteers that just have a vision for the city and would like to be involved in that process. We know there’s a lot of people out there that have great ideas, and we want to hear them. We want out-of-the-box thinking and those that know how to get things done. We want to hear from the moms and the senior citizens to know, what are their needs? What are their wants?”
For the stakeholder committee, there will be at least four meetings throughout the nine-month process, which will begin in April.
Smith also wants to make sure the general plan follows legal guidelines, as well as other aspects of the city. “As we develop our general plan, we will be evaluating our current policies and procedures to make sure we’re not in conflict with our charter and with our general plan. As required by law we must have a review of our charter every four years. I’m not sure when the last one was done, but I know it hasn’t been done within the last four years. So, we will also be creating a charter review.”
Smith stated the general plan will also be used to make a new strategic plan, which will then help with the budgeting process when determining city needs.
Smith emphasized that while this is being done by the city, it’s a community effort. “The best way for any community to thrive is to have citizen participation. It’s not just the council, it’s not just our city manager. It’s all of us working together with our strengths as helping each other out when it comes to code enforcement.”
The city is already working to improve the city prior to the general plan’s completion. “We’ve got a new code enforcement officer Barbara Blythe, and we’re excited to have her aboard. We’re thankful she’s coming in at a great time as we create this plan.” Another positive inclusion will be the utilization of a Brownfield assessment grant that was awarded to the city to help commercial property owners assess what will be needed to improve their property.
Those interested in being involved with the general plan development can contact Smith at kathleengardnersmith@gmail.com.
