Board, Planning Commission hear comprehensive plan update

City directors and members of the Planning Commission attended a joint workshop Aug. 17 with Freese and Nichols on the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.

Six directors, minus Director David Allen, and five planning commissioners, minus Ted Song and Jerrod Driscoll, attended the workshop held right before the city board meeting. Planning Manager Dawn Warrick AICP gave both directors and commissioners a synopsis of where the project is at.

Warrick spoke about the two public engagement events that were held as well as what the results of those events were.

During the first public event March 18 at the library, there were 27 people attend in person, Warrick said. An online survey with the same information as the public event was posted to the website. There were 699 people who took the survey, Warrick said.

On June 29 a second public was held at the community building and 76 people attended the event. The event was replicated online, which was live for 21 days.

"We had 41 participants and so we combined the information that we received in person and at the online event to understand the feedback from that activity," Warrick said.

Director Brad Burns brought up the numbers in the survey and asked Warrick what the city needs to do to motivate citizens to show up at these events and participate in city planning.

Warrick said the numbers are pretty good. She said the city got a pretty decent cross-section of the community.

"Every community has a different sort of personality and different makeup of people that are comfortable engaging online versus in person," Warrick said.

She said Freese and Nichols is working with the city's communication officer to possibly develop some additional video segments or snippets that can go out through social media channels.

While she understands not everybody uses social media channels, Warrick said it is a pretty prominent platform to get the word out.

Warrick said between the project website, social media channels and the monthly email to the website's subscriber list, Freese and Nichols is trying to ensure there is some activity or conversation happening pretty regularly.

During the workshop, Warrick covered the background and analysis, as well as reviewing existing planning and policy documents the city has already developed.

That face involved a visioning process to establish a series of guiding principles and a vision statement for the plan, Warrick said.

The project is currently in the second phase, Warrick said.

"Phase two is really, as far as the time goes, the bulk of the project falls within this phase and that's when we're really looking at drafting the content for the various plan elements or chapters and those listed there," Warrick said.

Warrick said the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee (CPAC) discussed housing, choice neighborhood design and neighborhood conditions. During the meeting the CPAC vetted a vision statement for the comprehensive plan:

"Siloam Springs is a modern mid-sized city with a small-town feel. We are a welcoming, safe and vibrant community celebrating our rich history and connection to the environment. With a pride of place, we enjoy diverse and inclusive neighborhoods, unique destinations, and thriving businesses supporting our residents and the region."

The project manager also discussed land use, transportation, economic development, community character and resiliency.

Burns asked Warrick when Freese and Nichols looked at Siloam Springs have they identified spaces for green space?

Warrick said they have identified some open space and sort of preservation type areas that would have a light touch with regard to development most likely they would be large lot residential or agricultural type uses.

"Those are primarily at the very edge of existing city limits and into what we call the planning area," Warrick said.

Burns also spoke about how some of this is kind of some of the stuff he is doing these days which relates to conservation. He said people that love land and like to preserve land and said monies are available that is not directly tied to tax dollars.

"I think that adds value to the land use," Burns said. "It lets the citizens of Siloam know that we're looking out towards the future, not your tax dollars but the state and federal dollars that are available."

Warrick thanked Burns for the guidance and said they would take it into account. Director Carol Smiley discussed the initial survey in March.

She was curious about a portion where people did not want more retail and commercial services in walking distance.

"In my mind we have always tried to be a walkable community, which to me that means you do have the ability to walk to some of those types of facilities," Smiley said.