HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The City of Huntington is working to gain input from the community regarding their next comprehensive plan that’s crafted every 10 years.
The city’s Planning Department has been holding a series of community meetings this summer with the next meeting set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the VFW Post 9738 on 227 Main Street in Guyandotte.
“We want to try and hit different parts of the community and ask questions about what’s important for this particular part of the community that may be different than other parts of the community,” said Huntington Planning Director Bre Shell.
The comprehensive plan is a document that addresses the city’s land-use policy and development for the next decade. Shell said the plan will impact neighborhoods, businesses, traffic and the environment.
“Primarily, we want to make sure that we’re addressing current development trends, determining a vision for how the community would like to continue to see the city developed and provide that plan to achieve that vision,” Shell said.
Shell said the plan is used to help the city draw in new businesses too.
“We use it to help guide our conversation with new businesses that come in and have to go before the Board of Zoning Appeals or request any changes to the zoning. More broadly, it’s useful in helping to determine if there’s other capital decisions that need to be made,” she said.
West Virginia requires cities and counties to update their comprehensive plans every 10 years. This provides an opportunity to revise population and employment growth forecasts with the most up-to-date data, review existing policies to ensure they make sense for the communities they serve and write new policies that reflect priorities.
Shell said these community meetings are not the first step to craft a new plan. She said the city has been working on gathering input for months.
“A lot of things that have been happening for those last 10 years, so all of those documents can feed into what’s evolved in the comprehensive plan. We use that as a base line for developing where we want to go,” she said.
Th update will plan for the next 10 years of population and employment changes through the year 2034.
Additional community meetings are listed below:
Fairfield
July 27 at 7 p.m.
A.D. Lewis Community Center
1450 A.D. Lewis Avenue
Southside/Enslow Park
Aug. 9 at 6:30 p.m.
Enslow Park Presbyterian Church
1338 Enslow Blvd.
Highlawn
Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
Community of Grace United Methodist Church
225 28th Street
Downtown and Marshall University area
Aug. 17 at 6 p.m.
Huntington’s Kitchen
911 3rd Avenue
For more information and updates, visit the City of Huntington Planning Department’s website.