An updating in the City’s planning process, two years in the making, was completed at the January City Council meeting when the Council accepted the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Representatives from Guernsey Engineers, Architects, Consultants provided a final report to the Council describing the lengthy process which updated the City’s former Comprehensive Plan from the 1980s.
Mayor Karl Nail said the new plan is well thought out, it has been vetted, and it was put together with lots of comments. He added that the Comprehensive Plan is not set in stone, but is a living document which indicates how the City thinks things will go in regards to infrastructure and growth.
“The council’s role is to review the plan and update it every few years,” Nail said. “We utilize it as potential growth trends develop.”
Amy Fidler, of Guernsey, said the plan will help guide development and growth in Newcastle. It provides the framework for strategies, objectives, future land use, goals and community vision. Newcastle paid Guernsey $149,900 for its work.
The project to update the City’s Comprehensive Plan began in 2021 as the consultant team was hired. Over the course of the last 18 months, they created stakeholder committees and new branding for the City which included the City’s website and social media.
They held community meetings and workshops, and then went where the residents were including “pop up events” where feedback was solicited during community activities, and at Newcastle High School from the students. They also put together a community survey “to seek input and gain consensus on emerging themes as perceived by the community,” and conducted a visual preference survey to determine “resident’s opinions on what future development in Newcastle should look like.”
The Comprehensive Plan looks at several key elements including land use, infrastructure, and utilities, housing, neighborhoods, and community character, transportation and mobility, economic development, parks, recreation, and open space, and health, wellness and quality of life.
These are followed by goals, objectives and strategies that can be used to address them. An implementation plan is created which helps the City and its partners to identify objectives and implement timelines and strategies for accomplishing the plan.
