Centerville to launch effort on new comprehensive plan

Centerville City Planner Ian Vanness said the goal of the new plan is to “develop and implement strategies to direct future land use policies, economic development and infrastructure investment.”

“This is a perfect time to create a new comprehensive plan because there’s already positive momentum and new projects underway specifically in the Uptown area but also with the different community event programming that’s going on like Stubbs Park, and also in Uptown.,” Vanness told this news outlet. “They can serve a given community depending on what that community’s position is, but I don’t always see them as a great catalyst for initiating momentum, but more kind of like (a way of) building upon existing energy.”

Vanness said because Centerville is “a community that is on the move,” now is a great time to preserve its gains and build upon them.

“It’s a perfect time to check in with the community to see, not just in Uptown or in Stubbs Park, but where else are focus areas? What other quality-of-life initiatives does the community value and then what can staff do to really set a plan in motion to start prioritizing this ... new vision?”

Comprehensive plans outline a community’s vision up to approximately 20 years, but should be updated every five years to account for new development trends and priorities, Vanness said. Centerville’s comprehensive plan, “Create the Vision: Our Community Our Future (CTV),” was adopted by Centerville City Council in 2004, as a joint community plan with Washington Twp.

Since its adoption in 2004, city council has approved amendments to the plan in 2007, 2017 and 2019. City council reviewed CTV in 2022 as part of the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan and is opting to replace it with a new comprehensive plan, Vanness said.

Council briefly discussed the plan during a Monday work session and agreed to move forward with it, city officials said.

Creating a new comprehensive plan will require undergoing a thorough planning process that allows for a community vision to be identified and related goals to be established, Vanness said. In general, the planning process takes anywhere between a year to two years to complete, he said.

The process will be handle mainly by a planning consultant to help city staff to administer the comprehensive planning process, Vanness said.

“That arrangement will allow me to continue working on other strategic initiatives and keep up with the weekly tasks that come up in planning and zoning, but also be very involved in overseeing the comprehensive planning process,” he said.