Commissioner McClain made a motion to recommend approval of “Imagine Independence 2040 – A Community Vision” Comprehensive Plan Update.  A second to the motion was made by Commissioner Boley. The City Planning Commission voted as follows:

The motion passed with a recommendation for approval to be forwarded to the City Council for consideration.  Staff recommends approval.

The Comprehensive Plan was last updated in 1993.  Since that time there have been several area and corridor amendments.  It is the desire of the City Council to conduct a full update to the Plan as outlined in the adopted City of Independence 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, Independence for All.

In 2015, Staff began a review of the current Comprehensive Plan.  It was determined through that review that an update to the Plan was necessary as the Plan's recommendations had been implemented and the Plan had successfully implemented the significant development that occurred in all areas of the City since its adoption.  Staff presented status updates on the Comp Plan at various times during 2015 and 2016.

In 2017, it was time to move the plan to the public engagement phase to gather input from the community.  The firm Shockey Consulting Services, LLC was selected through a competitive selection process to assist in the Plan update. The contract commenced in March of 2017.  During the public engagement process, a variety of engagement methods including formation of the Steering Committee, social media strategies, a Public Meeting on June 22, 2017, a community survey, a Comp Plan website, online engagement, project fact sheets, and in-person meetings throughout the community. The public engagement portion concluded in August 2017 with a presentation to the City Council.

The Steering Committee, a nine member committee appointed by Council, met various times over the past year to provide input on the community activities, identify issues and opportunities, refine information through an iterative process, and review and modify the draft plan.  The committee concluded this process on March 1, 2018.

The final attached document, Imagine Independence 2040 – A Community Vision, is a result of this process.

Draft Planning Commission minutes are attached to this Council agenda item.