Cedar Rapids nears completion of new comprehensive plan

CEDAR RAPIDS - Three public-input sessions and months of work by the city's planning staff have gotten the city near the finish line in the development of the city's first new comprehensive plan since 1999.

Jennifer Pratt, the city's community development director, said Monday one feature of the plan looks to future development as an opportunity to combine different zoning categories, such as residential zones and neighborhood commercial zones, in one place rather than excluding one zoning category from another.

In the years ahead, Pratt said the development opportunities along the Highway 100 extension corridor on the city's western edge likely will see nodes of neighborhood commercial development amid residential neighborhoods.

She said walkability is one of the plan's development goals, and the idea is to put services used by a neighborhood in walking distance to those who live nearby, she said.

Pratt said the new comprehensive plan also incorporates the city's newly adopted Business Retention and Expansion Program throughout the city.

She said the development of neighborhood action plans also is part of the new comprehensive plan.

The city's Community Development Department - in a process it called EnvisionCR - held its first public forum on the emerging comprehensive plan in March, a second session in August and the third one last night.

The city will post the final draft of the comprehensive plan on its website in late December or early January for residents to provide additional comments.

The City Council is slated to consider the plan on Jan. 27, Pratt said.