Monday, April 29, 2024
Community members will soon be able to share their input regarding Granbury's projected growth and how best to shape the future of the city.
The city of Granbury invites residents to a come-and-go open house meeting at Granbury City Hall, 116 W. Bridge St., Thursday, April 18, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. to discuss the city’s next Comprehensive Plan.
"The Comprehensive Plan is a policy document that guides the city,” Director of Community Development Kira Wauwie told the Hood County News. “It's a vision document that establishes what the future would look like. It was adopted in 2016, and it has a generalized lifespan of being long term, which for Granbury is about 10 years, so we would anticipate it being updated now. This is our first step.”
According to the city’s website, the Comprehensive Plan “represents the culmination of field studies, analysis and input from citizens and city staff regarding the present and future development of the city of Granbury. The document provides a statement of goals and objectives, analysis of demographic characteristics, and a description of long-range plans for thoroughfares, land use, parks and historic preservation, as well as implementation measures that practically apply the land use principles described herein to existing and future development.”
“This first meeting is geared to inform the community on the project itself, to let them know that there's about a one-year horizon to complete it,” Wauwie said. “They would gain information on the background of the comprehensive plan like, ‘What is a plan?’ and the project itself, the steps involved and how they can contribute to the effort.”
During the meeting, residents will be invited to share their insights that can help forward thinking — resulting in a long-range vision related to Granbury’s transportation, land use, downtown and economic development.
“We want to hear citizen’s voices,” City Communications Manager Jeff Newpher said. “We really want them to come and kind of get a big picture of what a Comprehensive Plan is. If they own land, or if they don't, if they drive, or they don't, or they come downtown or they don't, this is still important for residents to come find out, ‘What are some of the frameworks of this?’ and then help put their input into it.”
Newpher said when residents arrive, a short video will be presented in order to give everyone a better understanding of what type of feedback the city is requesting.
“We don't want to narrow it down in advance. We want them to come open-minded,” Newpher said. “It's not set in stone, but it is meant to be something that is very useful and rigid enough that it keeps everyone on the same page.”
According to Newpher, the open house meeting will allow for city staff to interact with Granbury residents to ultimately figure out what their thoughts are regarding the city’s long-range planning.
“That evening is really kind of key,” he said. “It's the first step and we're really trying to get people focused on the first step. There will be many others. This is a lengthy process because it's so detailed and so important that every detail that's involved must be correct.”
Wauwie said following the meeting, residents will be given the opportunity to fill out a survey that’s currently set to go “live” after the open house.
“By attending the open house meeting, they will gain information and knowledge that they can use to complete that survey,” she said. “It’s important (for residents to attend) because they’re an integral part of the community. The policy document is visionary and sets the stage for future development and for the future of the city.”
"We want to convey how important it is for us to hear community voices,” Newpher said. “We appreciate the people that come to the council meetings and planning and zoning meetings on a regular basis. They're very much part of the system. But we also want to hear from the people who may not normally come to those meetings, but may say, ‘You know what? This is what sparked my interest and I'm planning on being here for a long time.’ This is their opportunity for their voice to be heard.”
For more information on the open house meeting regarding Granbury’s Comprehensive Plan, visit the city website at granbury.org.
