Washington Twp. seeks to garner 'broad community input' for land-use plan
Jul. 6—Washington Twp. is reaching out to area residents for input on a comprehensive land-use plan that will outline its existing condition, describe future goals and objectives for development and include an action plan on how to achieve them.
"The comprehensive land-use plan provides opportunity for township elected officials to garner broad community input and determine development goals and objectives for the future growth of our community," Ryan Lee, the township's development director, told Dayton Daily News.
It's doing that via a survey at www.tinyurl.com/washtwpplan asking them to share their perspectives through September.
The plan update will address the following topics: — future growth and land use — housing and neighborhoods — economic development — transportation and mobility — infrastructure and utilities — parks, natural resources and the environment
"A comprehensive community plan is used by township trustees, boards, commissions and staff to make decisions about future intelligent growth, development, transportation and infrastructure."
Washington Twp. also plans to host a public open house in late August to solicit additional community feedback on draft plan elements, Lee said. The final date, time and location will be established sometime this week and provided at www.washingtontwp.org.
"The land use plan has assisted in guiding township boards, commission, and staff in review of rezoning and development requests in areas such as commercial land use attraction and/or retention within the community, acceptable residential development types and density, as well as objectives to bolster development practices to strengthen our community's established sense of place and built form," Lee said.
That, he said, has been "particularly helpful" in review of infill development such as: — M/I Homes residential development Washington Glen on Yankee Street south of Austin Pike. — commercial infill redevelopment efforts on Far Hills, such as redevelopment of the former Masonic temple site at Lamplighter Trail and Far Hills Avenue for a two-story medical office land use. — redevelopment of the northeast corner of Far Hills and Whipp Road by United Dairy Farmers
The previous comprehensive planning and revisioning effort was a joint plan with the city of Centerville, known as Create the Vision. The plan was adopted in 2004.
The update effort initially began in late 2019, but was postponed due to uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential impacts on future land use and market trends, he said.
"Efforts were re-engaged to update (the) comprehensive plan, as well as rewrite our zoning resolution with our consultant, McBride Dale Clarion, in fall 2023 and (are) currently ongoing," Lee said.
The adoption process will follow public outreach and is tentatively slated to start this fall, he said.
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