Greenfield mayor Guy Titus works with residents at a community workshop designed to revise the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan to prepare for growth over the next 20 years.
Submitted photos
GREENFIELD – Greenfield officials are planning for the city’s future, all the way up to the year 2045.
Greenfield’s planning director, Joanie Fitzwater, shared the latest progress in updating the city’s 20-year comprehensive plan at Wednesday’s city council meeting.
Fitzwater said her planning department has been working on collecting public feedback for the plan since April 2023.
The steering committee has met with all city department directors more than a dozen times, and has hosted nearly 20 public outreach events where residents are invited to share feedback.
The committee has also hosted nine targeted focus group meetings, including ones focused on residents, businesses, nonprofits, builders, developers, high school students, city officials, and service and utility providers.
Nearly 50 people attended the first public workshop April 1. A second workshop will take place Aug. 29, followed by an open house in October. Two public meetings to approve the proposed plan are scheduled for November and December.
While Indiana municipalities are required to create or update a comprehensive plan in order to enforce a zoning code, Fitzwater said there is no set regulation on when to update it.
“Typically, these are 20-year plans with a rule of thumb to update the plan every 10 years,” she said. “Federal and state grant funding is often dependent on recently updated plans to make sure funds are being spent on valid needs and defined goals of residents and businesses.”
In April 2023, the City of Greenfield hired Rundell Ernstberger Associates to help with updating the city’s comprehensive plan.
Cynthia Bowen, a partner with the firm, shared some updates with city council members Wednesday night.
“We are calling the plan our road map for 2045,” she told the council.
Bowen said the comp plan development process involves identifying goals for the city and establishing action steps to achieve those goals.
“We do this through our public visioning process. We have one broad-based vision, and our road map for Greenfield 2045 envisions all of these things,” she said.
“We want to be an authentic American city and have a tapestry of vibrant spaces. Want to make sure we’re connected and have a variety of mobility options for our citizens,” said Bowen. “We want to have diverse and multiple-generational housing, we want to make sure we continue our flourishing and cultural scene that we have here, and continue that high quality of education. We want to make sure we have robust civic engagement and pride, and make sure we have a harmonious relationship between nature and development.”
Bowen said the city’s comprehensive plan is broken down into six different planning principles: intentional growth management; sustainable economic opportunity; downtown vibrancy; attainable housing; engaging places and program; and quality infrastructure and services.
To join in the planning process, the public is invited to attend the next public workshop at the Hancock County Public Library, at 900 W. McKenzie Road in Greenfield, from 5-7:30 p.m. Aug. 29.
For more information on Greenfield’s comprehensive plan process, visit greenfieldingear.com.
