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Politics & Government

Geneva Gets Into National Planning Month

Draft of city's Downtown Master Plan expected to be completed for public review in the coming weeks.

October has been designated as National Community Planning Month by the American Planning Association, and Geneva is taking part in a big way.

This year's theme is "New Ideas for America's Future," acknowledging that planning helps envision the future and address the needs of communities. The month-long celebration is an opportunity to recognize how planning shapes the city of Geneva, and the work of planners and the planning profession in creating communities of lasting value.             

Although mostly considered a "built out" community, Geneva citizens and officials continue to actively plan and think of new ideas for the city's future. The city adopted a Comprehensive Plan in 2003, a Bikeway Implementation Plan in 2005, and a Historic Preservation Plan 2008.

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Currently, the city is involved in developing a Downtown/Station-Area Master Plan and Southeast Area Master Plan. Residents and business owners of Geneva are invited to celebrate Community Planning Month by familiarizing themselves with the city's current planning efforts.

A brief summary of the Downtown/Station-Area Master Plan and Southeast Master Plan are provided below. Additional information is available by visiting the website addresses provided or contacting Planning Division staff.

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Downtown/Station-Area Master Plan

The Downtown/Station-Area Master Plan will be a 20-year vision and plan for the future of Geneva's downtown, addressing issues like new residential development, adaptive reuse and expansion of buildings, parking, transit, pedestrian and bicycle movement, priority redevelopment sites, scale and intensity of new development, mixed-used development opportunities, open space, historic preservation priorities and uses for government facilities and sites.

After a little more than a year of work, the, and the city's planning consultant, Houseal Lavigne Associates, anticipate having a draft plan completed for public review in the coming weeks.

The process to date has included a significant amount of community outreach (including a project website, questionnaires, e-blast distributions, workshops, and key person interviews), research and analysis of existing conditions, a downtown design Charrette, and review and discussion of possible future land uses for 33 identified opportunity sites.

The participation of Genevans throughout the process has been tremendous! Having the draft downtown plan completed this month will be a fitting way to celebrate Community Planning Month because the plan promises to demonstrate how planning processes can enable citizens, business owners, and civic leaders to play a meaningful role in creating a vision and plan for the future of their community.

To learn more about the Downtown/Station-Area Master Plan, please visit:http://www.hlplanning.com/dnn/Default.aspx?alias=www.hlplanning.com/dnn/geneva 

Southeast Master Plan

The Southeast Master Plan will be a guide for the future development of the undeveloped and/or underutilized lands in the southeast corner of the city's planning jurisdiction (generally south of Route 38, north of Fabyan Parkway, west of the County Line, and east of Kirk Road).

The area under study includes approximately 300 acres of unincorporated land. Why business park development has occurred to the north and south, yet not within this area? To answer this question the study is taking a high level engineering look at the undeveloped properties, identifying natural resources and features, optimal road connections and locations, utility size and placements; all in the context of existing land uses.

The process to date has included a significant amount of community outreach (including a project website, surveys, public meetings, and property owner interviews), research and analysis of existing conditions, and a design Charrette.

The participation of land owners within the study area has been extremely valuable, providing insight into preferences regarding future land use and long range plans. When completed the plan will consider alternative land uses, utility needs for alternative development scenarios, utility extension routes, and cost estimates. After several months of work, the city and its consultants, Wills Burke Kelsey Associates and Land Vision, Inc., anticipate having a draft plan completed by the end of the year.

To learn more about National Community Planning Month, visit www.planning.org/ncpm.  

This article is courtesy of the city of Geneva.

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