What is a Comprehensive Plan?
A Comprehensive Plan is an adopted policy document used by City leaders, developers, business owners, and residents to make decisions about future growth, development and capital improvements. The policies outlined in the Plan will inform land use and capital improvement decisions, helping to assure Helena citizens that such decisions are not arbitrary, but rather fit into a unified, long-range vision for the City.
The Comprehensive Plan document will recommend goals, strategies and actions regarding a "comprehensive" range of topics such as land use, transportation, economic development, public services, and natural and cultural resources. It will serve as a guide for public officials by establishing policies and priorities, and providing the framework for evaluating development proposals. It will express your community’s vision and priorities, and describes where and how development should occur.
The Comprehensive Plan document will recommend goals, strategies and actions regarding a "comprehensive" range of topics such as land use, transportation, economic development, public services, and natural and cultural resources. It will serve as a guide for public officials by establishing policies and priorities, and providing the framework for evaluating development proposals. It will express your community’s vision and priorities, and describes where and how development should occur.
Why is a new Comprehensive Plan needed for Helena?
The first Helena Comprehensive Plan was developed in 2003, and since then there have been to updates to it in 2011 and 2016. A new Comprehensive Plan is needed to reflect current community changes and priorities. Last year, Old Town Helena was designated as an entertainment district, approximately 630 new residential lots are anticipated to be built by 2025, and the City became a designated Alabama Community of Excellence (ACE) Community in 2016.
A new Comprehensive Plan is needed in order to assist the City of Helena “Client” in enhancing the quality of life for residents, preparing for new housing growth, enhancing city services and amenities, guiding new development and redevelopment, expanding multi-modal options, and continuing to bring in new investment into the Old Town Helena. These are just a few reasons why a new Comprehensive Plan is needed, rather than just providing another update to the current Plan.
A new Comprehensive Plan is needed in order to assist the City of Helena “Client” in enhancing the quality of life for residents, preparing for new housing growth, enhancing city services and amenities, guiding new development and redevelopment, expanding multi-modal options, and continuing to bring in new investment into the Old Town Helena. These are just a few reasons why a new Comprehensive Plan is needed, rather than just providing another update to the current Plan.
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What will be included in the Comprehensive Plan document?
- Community Profile - Identification of baseline metrics and indicators that will help the community to understand how it compares to other similar communities in the region, where it stands relative to past conditions, areas of focus and need, and where new opportunities may occur. Significant elements include demographic change over time, employment, housing, transportation corridors, roadway level of service, bike/ped gap analysis and safety analysis, sewer and water infrastructure, annexation trends, recent and planned improvements, current land use character and zoning, education facilities, parks, trails, and other open spaces. This process will include gathering, synthesizing, and highlighting the relevant portions of past studies and plans, building upon and advancing relevant initiatives
- Market Analysis - High-level market analysis to provide an overview of general market dynamics, economic drivers, and future real estate demand to understand current trends and identify future needs for housing, employment, industry, local business, services, and transportation improvements within Helena.
- A Future Land Use Map and Categories will be developed in consultation with the City's Planning and Zoning Commission. The Future Land Use Plan will explain and define each of the future land use designations, or categories, that will be on the Future Land Use Map.
- Future Annexation Potential and Objectives will be considered, and scenarios evaluated as to the potential impacts to the city.
- Fiscal Impacts will be analyzed for scenarios from the development of various uses in Helena in terms of sales tax and property tax potential across low-, moderate-, and high-growth scenarios.
- Transportation Recommendations - A balanced transportation framework which meets the needs for all users, including motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians. New street classifications that integrate functional classification with land use, access, and corridor character. This will include illustrated typical cross sections for each road type. Non-motorized planning and improvements, with a focus on safety, connectivity, and references to various best practice documents. Traffic management techniques will be suggested along corridors where additional widening is not practical or not yet needed, such as access management, minor design changes, intersection improvements, or new traffic signal technologies. This is a comprehensive plan level analysis and does not include traffic demand modeling.
- Economic Development Recommendations - A strategic framework aimed to strengthen the local economy including strategies related to place-based attraction and retention, leveraging planned public and private investment to maximize potential impact, innovation and entrepreneurship, local business growth, the sharing/equitable/maker economy, tourism support and expansion, human capital, and workforce development. High-level regional real estate development projections will be considered for residential, office, retail, and industrial uses and potential local capture for Helena.
- Old Town Helena Focus Area - Additional level of study for Old Town Helena to identify placemaking and economic development opportunities facing the city’s historic center. One conceptual-level plan and recommendations providing a framework to guide and leverage future development and investment.
- Strategies and Policy Recommendations - Comprehensive toolkit of strategies and policy recommendations within each plan priority area, including for land use, transportation, and economic development as well as other comprehensive plan elements. Guidance will address Helena’s rapid growth over the past 10 years by providing growth management strategies to most advantageously guide growth for years to come.
- Implementation Plan - Implementation plan including catalytic projects, illustrations, and graphics to depict key strategic objectives, matrix of all plan action steps including timeline, leaders, and partners for implementation.
- A Public Involvement Summary will provide the results from all public outreach methods including community workshops and surveys.
Why is the Helena Comprehensive Plan important to me?
Planning, building and maintaining a city is a complicated and difficult process. Helena must proactively plan for the future so future decisions are based on shared principles and agreed-upon priorities. The Helena Comprehensive Plan will identify these principles and priorities and distill from them a common long-term vision for the City's future. This prevents the City from making short-sighted decisions based on changeable concerns.
These shared principles and priorities can only be identified using accurate information. You provide that information. The Helena Comprehensive Plan will only reflect your vision for the City as much as you share these needs with the City. How Helena grows, where development occurs, the quality of public services delivered to your home or business, the quality of transportation, parks and public facilities are all up to you.
These shared principles and priorities can only be identified using accurate information. You provide that information. The Helena Comprehensive Plan will only reflect your vision for the City as much as you share these needs with the City. How Helena grows, where development occurs, the quality of public services delivered to your home or business, the quality of transportation, parks and public facilities are all up to you.
How does a Comprehensive Plan apply to my property?
A comprehensive plan is a general, long-range vision for the City, and as such will not regulate how you may utilize your own particular property. However, the plan will guide the Planning Commission and City Council in future zoning decisions, which will regulate what you may do with your property. This is why it is critical for you to participate in the planning process, so that your voice is reflected in the final plan.
Who is developing the Comprehensive Plan and how much did the City pay for this?
The City Council voted unanimously in February of 2021 to hire the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB) to develop the Helena Comprehensive Plan.
A grant program administered through the RPCGB provided federal funding for 80% of the total project cost, and the City of Helena provided the local government match of 20% of the project cost (which was $39,999.50).
A consultant team led by MKSK Studios and Sain Associates have been hired by the RPCGB to develop the Comprehensive Plan to develop the new Comprehensive Plan under an on-call contract that MKSK has with the RPCGB.
A grant program administered through the RPCGB provided federal funding for 80% of the total project cost, and the City of Helena provided the local government match of 20% of the project cost (which was $39,999.50).
A consultant team led by MKSK Studios and Sain Associates have been hired by the RPCGB to develop the Comprehensive Plan to develop the new Comprehensive Plan under an on-call contract that MKSK has with the RPCGB.