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MONTEVALLO – The Montevallo City Council voted unanimously on July 27 to endorse the city’s new comprehensive plan as adopted by the Montevallo Planning Commission on July 16.

Work to create an updated plan started nearly a year ago when the council approved a contract with the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham to lead the process.

“Really, this is where our work starts,” Mayor Hollie Cost said after RPCGB Principal Planner Lindsay Puckett reviewed the final product July 27. “You’ve done the heavy lifting, and now we need to make sure this doesn’t sit on a shelf and gather dust. The next mayor and council will have a roadmap that I think we can all be proud of.”

The purpose of the comprehensive plan is to define the city’s overall vision for growth and redevelopment.

“It is not a law or a zoning ordinance, but is intended to serve as a policy guide to community decision-making regarding land use, development, growth management and capital improvements decisions,” the executive summary reads. “It provides a framework for guiding public and private decisions that will affect new development as well as reinvestment in existing neighborhoods and business areas.”

The plan reflects citizens’ input about how they want their city to progress and usually applies to the next five to 15 years.

The plan consists of the following nine chapters:

• Plan Overview – information about geographic location, background, planning authority in Alabama, purpose of the plan, a city limits map, relationship of the comprehensive plan to the zoning ordinance, plan organization, overview of the public involvement process and how to use the plan.
• Montevallo Today – information about demographics, racial composition, household family characteristics, median household income, housing value, housing unit occupancy and existing development footprint.
• Catalytic Project Ideas – information about the vision map highlighting 10 ideas, recommended ideas in the downtown/urban core, higher density development myths and facts, recommended ideas in the Alabama 25 corridor and access management.
• Future Land Use – information about different land use categories (rural residential, suburban residential, mixed neighborhood, urban core, general commercial, industrial, university, office and institutional, and parks and open space) and the relationship of the future land use map to the zoning map.
• Transportation – goals and recommended actions to expand mobility options throughout the city, and to preserve and enhance the safety and efficiency of the existing transportation system.
• Green Systems – recommendations to help improve and maintain Montevallo’s existing parks, how to expand recreational opportunities for residents and how to ensure Montevallo is able to protect the water quality of Shoal Creek.
• Economic Development – recommended actions for how the city can continue to foster economic development, support the local agriculture economy, market and recruit businesses that will diversify and complement existing businesses, and continue to support Montevallo’s workforce, small businesses and start-ups.
• Livability and Code Reform – recommendations to support a variety of housing options for current and future residents, how to create codes and programs to keep rental units from becoming nuisances in the eyes of the community and how to encourage better code enforcement and property maintenance.
• Implementation – information about the implementation process, including short-term, long-term and on-going tasks and partners who should take the lead or be in a supporting role for a particular action task.

To view Montevallo’s comprehensive plan in its entirety, visit MakingMontevallo.com.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a proclamation declaring Aug. 2-8 as Montevallo’s Farmers Market Week in conjunction with the observance of National Farmers Market Week.
• Approved the declaration of a spare Bobcat bucket as surplus and disposition as a trade-in for $600.
• Authorized the mayor to enter into an M4A Fiscal Year 2021 Nutrition Agreement.