March 18, 2010
By MELANIE LAGESCHULTE
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
Environmentally friendly features are expected to play a larger role in the next update to the city’s comprehensive plan, Ankeny officials said.
The document was last updated in 2003. A steering committee of roughly a dozen people, consisting mainly of members of city boards and staff, has been working on this round of revisions and additions for about a year. School district representatives have also participated in the process.
John Peterson, director of the planning and building department, said this document will have an increased focus on managing storm water as development occurs. The city has completed a number of studies of drainage and storm water issues in the past few years, he said, and those findings will be worked into the comprehensive plan.
Transportation is another key area, Peterson said, with more discussion about prepping corridors to accommodate walking, biking and future transit options.
“Really trying to broaden our view” of what transportation means, he said.
The City Council and members of the Plan and Zoning Commission will get an overview of the draft at Monday’s work session. A open house for the public is planned for March 29.
Peterson said he expects officials will take about a month to review comments gathered at the March 29 open house; the steering committee will also meet again.
The draft will be refined and then presented to the Plan and Zoning Commission, which will discuss the proposal, hold its public hearing and then pass it on to the council for similar steps before any changes would be adopted.
The current comprehensive plan looks out to 2020; Peterson said this update will extend the city’s vision to 2035. While officials will be making some changes and additions, he said, the overall direction of the comprehensive plan is still on track.
“Our goals haven’t changed,” Peterson said. While the comprehensive plan is a massive document, he said, its role is to simply provide policy and guidelines for officials as they create ordinances and weigh financial decisions.
“It’s more of a vision of where we want to go and helps guide a lot of decision making,” he said.
Plan and Zoning Commissioner Steve Odson is a member of the steering committee. He said more guidelines for managing storm water are needed in the document, as cities will face additional mandates in the future.
“It is something we have to do,” Odson said. “We’re trying to be ahead of the curve.”
Discussion about transportation has focused on large projects in the Ankeny area as well as how to handle corridors within the city, Odson said.
Officials need to consider how projects such at Ankeny’s proposed Northeast 36th Street interchange with Interstate Highway 35, the proposed northeast Polk County beltway and a possible Interstate 80/35 interchange with Northwest 26th Street south of Ankeny fit into the city’s overall plans, he said.
In addition to the storm water studies, Peterson said, the revised document will also take into account the parks department’s comprehensive plan that was created a few years ago, along with the city’s growth.
One part of the current document provides guidelines for how far out Ankeny’s borders could expand in the future, based on population projections. Peterson said this version now looks at the best ways those areas could be developed.
That includes ensuring efficient use of space as new neighborhoods are created, he said, and also placing a priority on developing open areas such as Prairie Trail that are already within the city’s boundaries.
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