Fayetteville council members voted Nov. 17 to submit the Community Assessment and Public Participation portions of the Fayetteville Comprehensive Plan to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) for approval. Public involvement in the plan begins in January.

Integrated Science and Engineering, the city’s consultant for the project, headed the project team that completed the initial work on the first phase of the plan. The project team included representatives from ISE, city staff, planning and zoning commission and Main Street, said ISE’s Courtney Power.

Power told council members that DCA had recently updated comprehensive plan requirements. Those changes will result in a more integrated and user-friendly plan, she said.

The Community Assessment components included a development pattern assessment, Census data assessment drawn from a variety of available sources, community issues and opportunities and quality community objectives that include 15 objectives proposed by DCA.

Power said the development pattern assessment relied on the city’s current land use plan, on identified community character areas, a new requirement by DCA, and identification of areas requiring special attention. Community character areas were categorized under headings such as neighborhood mixed use, regional commercial, residential, industrial, downtown historic district, greenspace, critical services area and community access points.

Areas identified as requiring special interest included areas where development or change of land use in likely to occur, grayfield redevelopment sites, areas with significant infill development and those areas with significant natural and cultural resources.

The community issues and opportunities portion of the community assessment included a variety of categories such as population growth, economic development, natural and cultural resources, facilities and services, housing, transportation, land use and intergovernmental coordination.

A final component of the community assessment included a series of 15 DCA-proposed quality community objectives. The objectives function as guidelines for future development patterns and policies to encourage sustainable, livable and vital communities.

The proposed objectives include transportation alternatives, growth preparedness, infill development, resource conservation, traditional neighborhoods, regional identity, environmental protection, open space preservation, appropriate businesses, housing choices, education opportunities, regional cooperation, local self-determination, employment options and a sense of place.

“It is interesting to note that many of the 15 objectives came from us to begin with,” said Mayor Kenneth Steele. “They looked at several communities, including Fayetteville, and incorporated their efforts into the 15 objectives.”

The second portion of the submission to DCA, the community participation component, lays out a methodology that will make the public aware of the various aspects of the plan and provide a venue for residents to offer their input.

Included in the community participation portion is the commitment to work with citizen stakeholders to identify issues, challenges and opportunities unique to the Fayetteville community and to evaluate the current strengths and weaknesses of the area to develop a future plan and vision to guide future growth and development in a well-planned manner. Combined with the community assessment, Power said the methodology of the public participation program will lead to the last phase of the comprehensive plan, the community agenda, set to begin in January.

The community agenda constitutes the public process of the comprehensive plan, said Power. The community agenda portion of the project will begin in January to present the plan and solicit input from all stakeholders. The strategy for soliciting input will come in the form of public venues such as community surveys, stakeholder committee functions, public meetings, handouts and through information posted on the city’s Web site.

Power said Monday that the comprehensive plan process is familiar to Fayetteville due to the city’s significant planning experience in past years. She anticipated that Fayetteville will generate additional ideas that will tie in with existing plans to produce a unified vision.

The deadline for submission of the community agenda is October 2006. The deadline for the completed plan is Feb. 28, 2007.

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