Othello looking at plan for growth, services

OTHELLO - Othello is reviewing the plan governing policies on growth, city services and other land use items.

The city council plans to review the comprehensive plan during its workshops during the next few months. City Planner Darryl Piercy presented a draft plan to the city council during a recent workshop.

"The one thing that I think was the most disappointing for the planning commission was they often did it in a room with just themselves (and one other person) present, and to not have additional public input ... was disappointing from their perspective," he said.

The planning commission started revising the plan in 2009, Piercy said. The commission took sections of the plan, reviewed policies and goals for the city.

"Each piece got discussed, set aside and we went on to the next piece. We recognized as we went through that process with the planning commission that things such as numerical values, populations, capital facilities plans all were going to change in the course of the review period," he said.

Since the items were going to change, the commission's focus has been on policies and goals, rather than numbers, which will be added at the end, Piercy said.

"As councilmembers, you have the opportunity to really set forth what is the vision and the goals and the policies for the city for the next 20 years," he said. "One of the first things we see, as a planner, when a perspective business comes to town and they're talking about land use and rules and regulations and how the city reacts to proposals; one of the first things they ask to see is the comprehensive plan."

Most communities in the state set their requirements and priorities through the comprehensive plan, Piercy said. Businesses use the plan to see if the plan's focus and direction would be a good fit for the company.

"So it's become a very important tool from the standpoint of site locations and economic development," he said. "It's become a tool for business because they judge a community by its cover, by its comprehensive plan."

The plan covers seven elements: land use, housing, capital facilities, utilities, transportation, economic development and open space and recreation. Piercy pointed out a section of the capital facilities section which included performance standards. The standards include items such as police response times, water quality, sewer capacity and the amount of parks.

"I hope we get a great deal of feed back from those city services and those directors leading up those city services, in terms of are those realistic standards," he said. "When you set that goal you have to understand it will potentially have long term budget ramifications."

Recent census data predicts Othello's population is likely to double in size during the next 20 years, and it's necessary to plan for the growth, Piercy said.

"That represents some pretty significant challenges, both in terms of your infrastructure needs, land area that you'll need to incorporate and encompass in order to serve that population," he said.

The commission needs feedback on the goals and policies contained in each of the seven elements of the plan, Piercy said.