11 - City's Comprehensive Plan Update

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Item No. 11 s TO: Mayor & City Council John Godwin, City Manager FROM: Alan Efrussy, AICP, City Planning Manager SUBJECT: DEFINITION AND FUNCTIONS OF A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DATE: June 18, 2018 BACKGROUND: There are many growth—management tools that a municipality can implement to direct and control its physical development. One of the most important is the comprehensive plan. There are two major reasons why this mechanism is essential to aid a city's growth— management program. First, the comprehensive plan is the primary document that can collectively coordinate a number of physical development plans, such as parks, future land use, thoroughfares, etc. This coordination could help a city avoid duplication of effort and cost regarding its physical development. Second, the comprehensive plan has historically been the major document that describes a city's long—term vision for physical development, which is typically from five to 30 years, or even longer. STATUS OF ISSUE: The city staff has made the following findings: (A) Definition of a Comprehensive Plan: The essential definition of a comprehensive plan is that it is a long—range plan intended to direct the growth and physical development of a community for a 20 to 30 year or longer period. (B) History of Comprehensive Planning. in Paris: Paris is one of the small percentage of American cities which have a history of comprehensive planning going back over one hundred years. Records indicate that comprehensive plans were prepared for Paris in 1915, 1966, 1981, 2001, and the Future Land Use Plan Map and the Plan Map Legend Explanations were updated in 2008. (C) The Current Role-ofComl rehensiveww,Planning, in Paris: Standard city planning practice recommends that a city's comprehensive plan be reviewed annually, and updated as necessary, which is oftentimes every three to five years (or sooner, based on changing physical or economic conditions). Therefore, at this time the city staff believes it is appropriate to update the current plan; the staff is now preparing a modified 2018 update to