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Preparing for the future: Celina updating comprehensive plan
By Andrew Snyder, asnyder@starlocalnews.com
The city of Celina is in the early stages of updating its comprehensive plan, a process that will include meetings with city boards, commissions and citizens to help determine a five-year plan for development.
A comprehensive plan is the official statement of a city that establishes goals, policies and guidelines intended to direct its physical, social and economic development, including a unified design for the public and private development of land, according to the American Planning Association – a professional organization of city planners.
Nine meetings will be held with various city stakeholders before a final plan is adopted by the Celina City Council on March 11. The schedule includes an open house and citizen input meeting Jan. 22 at city hall and a final public input meeting Feb. 26.
“[A comprehensive plan] is an excellent tool for how the public and private development of land is to occur,” said Helen-Eve Liebman, Director of Planning and Development for the city of Celina. “It's kind of your road map.”
The last update to the city's plan was approved Nov. 2009 and entitled Celina By Choice: The 2030 Comprehensive Plan. The new update will make adjustments to that document, which included sections covering economic development, land use, transportation, community facilities and parks and recreation.
Celina By Choice sought to find development solutions for a rapidly-growing community it projected would reach a population of 48,004 by 2030, though those numbers will be reexamined. The 2010 census set the city's population at 6,028.
Among the policy guidelines included in the current comprehensive plan are the maintaining and enhancing the city's urban center, the creation of a large-scale commercial center along the proposed Dallas North Tollway extension and the establishment of higher education and technical institutions in Celina.
“Celina is a premier community of unique heritage, exceptional livability and natural beauty, committed to offering its citizens an array of settings in which to live, work, play and raise a family, while managing quality and environmentally responsible growth,” states the Celina By Choice vision statement. “Its strategic location will allow the promotion of a diverse economy while retaining much of its hometown atmosphere.”
Citizens can submit suggestions for the comprehensive plan to celinacompplan@browngay.com anytime during the updating process. Their submitted input will be taking into consideration and will also be on display during the public open house.
Three planning meeting have already been held: two with the Comprehensive Plan Update Steering Committee and one with the city's Economic Development Corporation. The next meeting will include the Historic Preservation Commission and the Main Street Advisory Board and is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28 in city council chambers.
“It's definitely preliminary,” Liebman said. “The first meeting tried to identify what we're doing and why we're doing it. The second meeting got a little more specific, and we had some really great dialogue with people on the committee.”
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