Public input on updated Joplin city plan sought

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May 13, 2012

Public input on updated Joplin city plan sought

By Debby Woodin Globe Staff Writer The Joplin Globe Sun May 13, 2012, 11:45 PM CDT

JOPLIN, Mo. — Public comment is sought on a proposed update to Joplin’s Comprehensive Plan and on requirements that would put in place a planned development district for South Main Street.

The city will conduct an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. today for residents to view the proposals and make comments.

The plan is a long-range vision for the city’s development that is used to guide developers and city officials on making decisions regarding land use, transportation, infrastructure and policy.

Changes that apply to rezoned properties in the tornado district’s business corridors were adopted earlier this year. The overall plan was last updated in 2003 and applies to the entire city.

“I think our citizens are asking for more quality commercial development,” said Troy Bolander, the city planner and community development director. He said some of the changes in the updated plan are consistent with or derived from requests by residents that were made during the public input meetings of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team. He said one of those is that residents want the city to accommodate more types of multimodal transportation, particularly for pedestrians and bicyclists.

The planned district designation for Main Street from 15th Street to 50th Street is intended to adopt the same design standards for commercial properties that recently were put in place for the tornado zone. Councilman Benjamin Rosenberg had asked for the city staff to develop that proposal.

“We are looking at a Main Street overlay because we see that as an important corridor,” Bolander said. “We have the new Mercy Hospital at the south end and downtown at the north end, and possibly other projects in the devastated area. Now is the time to look and see what type of development we want along Main Street, and make sure we have the policies and codes in place to go forward.”

How soon the new plan would go to the City Council for a decision on whether to adopt it depends on the input received today, Bolander said.

“If we have a lot of public discussion and need to go back to tweak it, it could be a month or two months,” he said. “If we feel like we have the support of the community, we’ll go forward.”

Location

The open house will be held in the basement conference room at Joplin City Hall, 602 S. Main St.

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Public input on updated Joplin city plan sought

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