Mayor on the street: New faces in town
By EDMUND SLOCOMBE
Mayor, City of Peabody
There will be some new faces in town helping plan our future. The city of Peabody has selected John Keller, Kansas State University professor of Regional and Community Planning, to coordinate a four-month fact-finding study to develop a certified comprehensive plan for the city. Six community planning graduate students also will be involved in this project.
Peabody City Council is asking the community for their cooperation in sharing ideas and values, through interviews and a survey, to help develop a plan that may be adopted by the city.
A comprehensive plan will identify the goals, objectives, and policies that will guide the decisions made by the planning commission and the city council. The city has to have a current plan if the city is to adopt zoning and/or subdivision guidelines.
It is recommended that comprehensive plans be reviewed annually and rewritten every 10 years. It has been 25 years since the last plan was adopted.
Why planning? It is in every city's best interest to avoid the sporadic, haphazard development that follows from unplanned growth in the community.
Every citizen, whether motivated by personal economic benefit or community pride, should be interested in the orderly development and planned growth of his or her community.
Spontaneous, unplanned-for growth will usually result in cluttered and unsightly cities, and the need to rebuild public facilities such as roads, utilities, and buildings at a great cost to the city.
A community takes many actions to help ensure its citizens a safe and healthful environment for their work and leisure hours.
