Residents’ Input Sought Through Comprehensive Plan Survey
The City of Huntington continues to refine the comprehensive plan vision for the next 10 years by asking residents to complete an online survey.
The survey, which is live now through May 22, is online at https://arcg.is/1rarCT0.
A comprehensive plan is a document that addresses the City of Huntington's land use policy and development for the next 10 years.
Specifically, the comprehensive plan will address current development trends, determine a vision for how the community would like to see the city develop and provide a plan to achieve this vision.
In preparation for updating the comprehensive plan, there have been several methods for community engagement to date:
- An online survey was conducted in May 2023 with more than 1,100 respondents.
- The Planning staff worked a pop-up event during the Juneteenth Festival in June 2023 with 60 unique responses and 31 votes agreeing with the unique responses.
- Eight neighborhood conversations with the neighborhood associations were held in July and August 2023 with 184 participants.
- An open house was conducted in August 2023 at the Huntington Area Convention and Visitors Bureau with 35 participants.
Additionally, the project team conducted three focus-group discussions covering economic development, housing and transportation/infrastructure.
The engagement has focused on the shared values of a city that is welcoming, innovative and resourceful.
The Planning staff now invites the public to participate in a secondary survey to further refine priority emphasis areas. Through all of the engagement efforts, the following topics were identified as top- priority items. These are listed in no particular order:
- Green space such as parks, gardens and wooded areas
- Housing
- Public safety
- Streets and sidewalks
- Neighborhood revitalization
- Economic development
- Quality of life
- Downtown
The goal of the second survey is to focus more closely on the topics listed above. Please note that respondents did not have to participate in the first survey to participate in the second one.
Upon completion of the survey, the information will be used to draft the plan recommendations and the corresponding future land use map. The future land use map shows the amount and type of development the community would like to see in particular areas at some point (usually 10 years) in the future.
Following this public input survey, the following milestones will complete the comprehensive planning process. This summer, there will be another open house event to showcase the proposed future land use map and refined strategies. Following that engagement, the plan will be further refined and then will be presented to City Council for adoption in fall 2024.