By Nathan Prewett, For the Tribune
LEEDS – A new comprehensive plan, according to city planners Matthew Tindal and Bryan King of the Goodwyn Mills Cawood firm, is necessary every ten years to encourage a municipality’s progress and growth.
Goodwyn Mills Cawood City Planner Matthew Tindal delivers a presentation of the comprehensive plan. (Nathan Prewett)
Tindal and King hosted a comprehensive plan meeting at Leeds High School on Thursday, Jan. 11 in which the public was invited to attend and contribute their thoughts on what should be in store for the future of Leeds as the old plan is at ten years old and a new one will be formed.
The project to form the 2040 Comprehensive Plan was launched on Thursday night as “Imagine Leeds”. It was the first public meeting for the initiative.
“This is a program that was set up quite some time ago,” said Mayor David Miller, who was in attendance with other Leeds City Council members Eric Turner, DeVoris Ragland-Pierce and Johnny Dutton.
“As you all know this administration has been about progress and growth, and what we really want to do is hear from citizens about how we’re doing, where we’re going, what you would like to see for us to do in the future,” Miller said.
Leeds Mayor David Miller introduces the project launch. (Nathan Prewett)
A presentation was delivered outlining background information and steps for a new plan beginning with a history of the Leeds community, which began in the 1800s. In 1940 the city was home to 2,910 residents and spanned 1.1 square miles. As of the year 2000 the city grew to 8 square miles with more than 10 residents and now has a population of more than 12,000 residents in 2020.
“We just want to be thinking that as this growth continues, how can we manage that and make sure that the growth is quality growth that improves the entirety of the community,” Tindal said.
The presentation detailed some of the major additions to the city’s business and residential aspects over the past 20 years, including the Barber Motorsports Park in 2003, Bass Pro Shops in 2008, Shops of Grand River in 2010 and Buc-ee’s in 2021.
“These are quintessential, almost, parts of the city now,” Tinda said. “And it’s hard to imagine what the city would be like without these.”
There have also been 750 housing units built, 1,400 jobs created and 1,800 residents during the 20-year period.
Some of the goals for the next 20 years include downtown revitalization and lofts, a Grand River regional sports park, new commercial development at Grand River, and five new and expanding subdivisions.
Tindal said that developing the plan will involve examining the existing conditions and performing analysis before coming up with a strategic plan and implementing goals with actions such as funding for capital improvement projects.
People who were in attendance of the Imagine Leeds meeting. (Nathan Prewett)
“The idea for [implementation] is strategic action,” King said. “So, yes, you will get a nice vision for the next 10 to 15 years but you will also get out of this process strategic action and the support to implement those actions.”
The plan takes into account housing, attracting businesses, terrain for development, parks and recreation, storm management and other factors.
“There’s a very large potential for the magnitude of change for the next 20 years and that’s why we’re here today,” Tindal said. “We want to get ahead of that. We want to set the kind of change that we want and that we don’t want and how can we move forward with the change that we do want.”
Citizens who were in attendance were asked to fill out a vision statement for the next ten years. Some ideas included a civic center, entertainment centers, increased public safety, further developing the downtown area, among others.
To promote input from citizens the Imagine Leeds project encourages citizens to take surveys and attend target meetings and workshops in the future. Tindal said that data will be collected in the coming months as more meetings are planned.
“This is a big deal,” Miller said. “This has a lot of push behind it and it’s something that will carry us into the future.”
A website for the 2040 Comprehensive Plan can be found at www.imagineleeds.com. A survey is included in the site.
Nathan Prewett can be reached at nthomasp6@gmail.com.
