Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Community Meeting #5, July 14, 2011 recap

Our fifth public meeting of the planning process was a great success. We saw some new faces, and some regular attendees in the audience, received and had some great discussions from the audience questions and most of all were able to present a draft of the final plan. We would like to express to everyone how great it has been to be a part of this planning process with the Citizens and the City of Columbus. It is our desire that this Comprehensive plan and the process has correctly expressed the vision and desires of the citizens of Columbus and that this plan provides a framework, ideas and opportunities for a multitude of assets, issues and goals, which will allow the City to achieve its vision.

We apologize for this post going up later than usual. We wanted to make sure all of the information that was presented on July 14th was here, and that we were able to address some of the questions raised at the meeting, including, adding a color legend in the forward of the document for the maps. Additional lists and sections to be included we discussed such as checklists and methodologies, which were requested at the meeting, will be posted on this site as soon as they are completed.

Our next meeting is not yet currently scheduled. The next meting is planned to be a public hearing for the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan by the Columbus City Council. Once we know when the meeting will take place will be sure to post the information here.

The links below contain the presentation material at the July 14th meeting and a current plan document with all chapters to date.

Feel free to contact us through this website, and also to contact the City of Columbus Planner, Christina Berry.

Thank you so much for your participation, your insights, your conversations and making the process fun, exciting and purposeful.

Link to Meeting 5 Power Point
Link to Comprehensive Plan

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Community Meeting 06/09/2011 Recap

Our fourth public meeting covered the implementation portion of the Comprehensive plan. During the meeting we discussed the Strategic Concept, the Future Land Uses and the overall vision for the City of Columbus. We then discussed how the plan could be implemented, referring to specific issues that have been raised during the public meetings and possible solutions that have been identified. We showed examples of those solutions and also discussed specific tools and strategies the city should consider. Examples included a truck route plan, an updated sign ordinance, street standards and overlay districts. For every issue we discussed we demonstrated that there are multiple options available. We discussed examples where a particular strategy can alleviate and / or provide a solution for multiple issues that have been raised.

We apologize for this post going up later than usual. We wanted to make sure all of the information that was presented on June 9 was here.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday July 14th, at 5:30 pm in the Trotter Center. The meeting will summarize the Comprehensive Plan.

The links below contain the presentation material at the June 9 meeting and a current plan document with all chapters to date.

Feel free to contact us through this website, and also to contact the City of Columbus Planner, Christina Berry.

Thank you so much for your participation, your insights, your conversations and making the process fun, exciting and purposeful.

Link to Meeting 4 Power Point
Link to Comprehensive Plan

Friday, May 20, 2011

Community Meeting 3

Our third public meeting on the Comprehensive Plan was a great success. We would love to have more people in attendance. Even with a small crowd, we had some great discussions as we presented the Land Use, Transportation, Utilities and Drainage chapters of the plan.

The posts below each contain links to the previous meeting’s presentation material, meeting minutes and the current plan document as we have presented them. We have received comments on the material, and would love to have more. Please take some time to read through the plan to date and provide us with feedback. We are continually making changes and additions as the process goes forward with your support and feedback.

Our next meeting is scheduled for Thursday June 9th, at 5:30 pm in the Trotter Center. The meeting will summarize the plan to date and dive into the Implementation chapter of the Comprehensive Plan. This chapter will outline and explain the strategies, tools, and possible ways the City of Columbus can accomplish the vision and goals set out in the plan.

The links below contain the presentation material at last night’s meeting and a current plan document with all five chapters to date.

Feel free to contact us through this website, and also to contact the City of Columbus Planner, Christina Berry.

Thank you so much for your participation, your insights, your conversations and making the process fun, exciting and purposeful.

Link to Meeting 3 Power Point
Link to Comprehensive Plan, first 5 Chapters

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Community Meeting 04/14/2011 Recap

Thursday April 14th, we held our second community wide meeting. It was great to see familiar faces from the first meeting return, and it was great to see so many new faces. It is always great to see community participation grow as the process goes along. The meeting was focused on sharing and discussing the Strategic Development Concept for the City. As discussed, the Strategic Development Concept provides an overall conceptual, graphic vision for the City of Columbus. The Strategic Development Concept comes directly from the existing green infrastructure, the existing physical condition and make up of the City, and all of the information we collected in the first town meeting. Resident participation is vital to the planning process to make sure we are crafting and expressing the vision that the citizens of Columbus want.

The meeting was an overview of the current Strategic Development Concept. We shared with the participants, the information we gathered, the analysis we have undertaken and the first conceptual look at the SDC for the entire planning area.

We want and need your feedback. Just like our last post below you will find links to the presentation from the meeting and the first Chapters of the Comprehensive plan. These chapters provide greater explanation of the idea, analysis and concepts we have all been discussing. As the planning process moves forward we will be providing the additional portions of the plan for everyone to see, read and comment on as we move forward. When you have a moment please take a look and read through all of the information. If you have any problems downloading the information or pulling it up from the links, please email us. We will try to as quickly as possible fix any and all issues as we can.
We will do everything we can to make sure every one has access to the information.

Feel free to contact us, and feel free to contact the City of Columbus Planner, Christina Berry.

Thank you so much for your participation, your insights, your conversations and making the process fun, exciting and purposeful.

Link to Meeting 2 Power Point

Link to Comprehensive Plan, first 2 Chapters

Monday, March 14, 2011

Community Meeting 03/10/2011 Recap

KPS Group is very proud and excited to begin the Comprehensive Planning process with the City of Columbus. The first community meeting was a success. We define success as the quantity and the quality of information we gathered about the City of Columbus from the individuals in attendance. It would have been great to have more people in the room to add their thoughts and to hear what was being said, but that did not stop or let those who were there hold back on what they needed to say. As you will see in the linked files we were able to really talk about the planning process, showcase some beginning analysis and then ask a lot of questions of the participants. The first link is the PowerPoint presentation that we showed at the meeting. The second link is the typed up notes that we took at the meeting on the large flip chart. This is just the beginning.

This plan is an ongoing, ever developing and changing process based on the feedback and information that citizens give us. We would like to encourage everyone who was at the meeting, anyone who is interested in the plan and anyone who has additional feedback we need to hear; to please post and email us. We want to make sure every voice is heard, and everyone can participate in your plan.



As we go forward, we are going to try and make sure this place is a forum to share the information we are receiving, the information we are developing and the plan for review, comment and clarification. We will be providing links to all the material we develop and hope you can take a moment to lend your voice and thoughts to your plan, a Columbus Comprehensive Plan.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Columbus Launches Citywide Plan Process

Welcome to the Columbus, Mississippi Comprehensive Plan website. Tonight (Thursday March 10, 2011) the City of Columbus hosts the first public meeting in the citywide planning process. We expect to have the results from the meeting posted here by March 17. Please come back to the site for updates on the planning process, to review plan materials as they are prepared, and to leave feedback for the City and Project Team.