City Council Approves 20-Year City Planning Proposal
The Searcy City Council voted Tuesday to move forward with a 20-year city master planning proposal. The planning efforts will include an analysis of current infrastructure, active transportation, and city parks, community input phases, and strategic planning for community updates and growth.
“We’re committed to improving our community, and this master plan will help us do just that,” Mayor Kyle Osborne said. “I’m most excited about the community input phase which will allow us to hear directly from citizens about what they want our community to look like in the future.”
Crafton Tull, an employee-owned professional services firm based in Arkansas, has been selected to lead the efforts. The firm has conducted planning in other communities across Arkansas including Rogers, Conway, Batesville and Little Rock.
“Having a third-party conduct the research, town hall meetings/surveys, and planning efforts allows us to have a truly community-driven plan that we can all get behind,” Osborne said.
The first phase of the plan will be surveying all current conditions of drainage, roadways, sidewalks, utilities, parks, trails, facilities and more. The second phase will be a series of town hall meetings and surveys to gather community input on the needs and wants of our citizens. Information collected in both phases will be combined with expert input from engineers, architects and other professionals to develop a master plan for the city.
“To my knowledge, there has never been a comprehensive master plan for the city,” city council member David Morris said. “As our city continues to grow, this plan will allow us to all be on the same page about where we’re going and provide us with checks and balances for our progress.”
The project is projected to take 12-15 months to complete. For additional updates and to follow the progress of these efforts, please visit CityofSearcy.org.