'Celina by Choice' takes Celina 20 more years into the new millennium

Celina has had comprehensive plans before. The last one was completed in 2001 and has well over 100 pages. The draft of the 2009 comprehensive plan, “Celina by Choice” has 81 pages plus maps and an outline of the workshops the comprehensive plan steering committee held to form the new plan.

Celina Planning Director Keith Billick said he wanted to make sure the latest comprehensive plan was concise and clear enough for everybody to understand.

“It'll be a continual process with constant updating and talk so people don't forget about it. It needs to be a useful document that keeps everybody up to date,” he said.

He and the comprehensive plan committee have apparently achieved that. Reading the document (the preliminary version is on the city's website) would give the reader a good overview of many aspects of Celina's current and future development.

Here is the vision statement from the new plan.

“Celina is a premier community of unique heritage, exceptional livability and natural beauty, committed to offering its citizens an array of settings in which to live, work, play and raise a family, while managing quality and environmentally responsible growth. Its strategic location will allow the promotion of a diverse economy while retaining much of its hometown atmosphere.”

This is what the committee members and other members of the public want Celina to become over the next two decades.

“The comprehensive plan is a tool, a set of guidelines,” Billick said. “It's a way to set standards with every case and every application reviewed in the same way.”

The plan lays out what goes where with suggested areas for industrial, commercial and residential developments.

Billick said the 2009 comprehensive plan is not zoning. It's a guide for future land use. It's also a plan and the plan will be revised every year.

“A comprehensive plan puts everything on a level playing field for developers,” he said.

With a clear comprehensive plan in place developers will have a clear concept of what projects can be proposed for what parts of the city.

“It's a living document. It must continue to morph and adjust,” Billick said.

The 22-member steering committee comprised a cross section of Celina's population. The committee held workshops to find out what Celina residents thought should be included in a comprehensive plan, and then had the task of forming that into a document. The committee also held internal workshops with city directors.

Billick said that on a regular basis two or three citizens came to meetings just to listen. “The committee included as many points of view as possible. Hopefully no one will feel their point of view was left out,” he said.

Gil Austin, Frank Babb, Shelby Barley, Ron Brazell, Camille Erwin, Vince Garst, Jim Grant, Ben Harngartner, Carolynnnnnnnnn Harvey, Robert Honey, Billie Huddleston, Sandra Lerma, Dave Kalhoefer, Todd McCally, Herb Miller, Wayne Nabors, Jay Nelson, Van Nichols, Cleve Rasor, Dick Smith, Jeff Starr, Dan Stogner, Dick Waina, and Dave Benway comprised the steering committee.

City directors and consulting firm Wallace Roberts & Todd, LLC helped to guide the process.

The steering committee came to a consensus on “Celina by Choice” and recommended the proposed plan to the Planning and Zoning Commission.

The commission's next meeting is July 28. That meeting will include a public hearing. More public hearings could be held if the Planning and Zoning Commission deemed it necessary.

If that part of the process goes smoothly and the Commission recommends the 2009 comprehensive plan to the city council, the consultants will hold a Power point presentation of the plan for council at the August or September meeting.

The council's decision to approve or not approve the plan will likely be on the agenda for the August or September meeting.

The “Celina by Choice 2030 Comprehensive Plan” is available on the Celina city website.

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