In a process involving repeated input from all neighborhoods, the City has been working on a Centennial Master Plan for more than two years. The project started in March 2020, just as COVID-19 began impacting daily life.  Despite these challenges, working together, our goal of achieving substantial resident engagement was reached. Comprised of a resident steering committee, City staff and our consultant Gap Strategies, the project team conducted a community survey, two Town Halls, and a lengthy focus group study of numerous issues.
 
As a result of this process, a number of goals have been recommended for the City’s long-term Master Plan. Using these recommendations, Gap Strategies fashioned five primary themes:
 

• Affirming Sense of Place – goals organized around preserving the beauty, character, safety, and sense of cohesion in University Park.

• Assuring Connectivity – goals related to streets, parking, trails, utilities, communication, and programs that allow residents to move freely, do their business, and connect.

• Innovative Governance – goals to help the City government stay responsive and well-coordinated within the region, and to foster more ways that residents can help improve and direct their community. 

• Technological Integration – goals intended to provide University Park with vetted technological advancements that can improve city efficiency and quality of life, based on best practices from cutting edge cities.

• Preparing for The Future – goals for the horizon, with the idea of beginning now to prepare for coming changes that can be readily identified, while building a culture of adaptability, resilience, and sustainability across City operations.

The plan is now in draft form with these themes serving as the foundation. On April 11, the draft plan was reviewed by the Centennial Master Plan Steering Committee and received unanimous endorsement. On Tuesday, April 26, the Planning and Zoning Commission met for a work session with Gap Strategies to review the latest draft.
 

View video of the P&Z Meeting

  To learn more about the project, click here.