| Commission considers growth |
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| News | |||
| Written by Brandon Steinert | |||
| Friday, 05 March 2010 09:00 | |||
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After two months of debate and discussion on Miami County’s community growth areas, the Miami County Planning Commission unanimously approved a recommendation on how the County Commissioners should proceed. Six ideas were initially brought forward, which were condensed into three points the planning commissioners accepted as their recommendation. They suggest that the county commission should eliminate community growth areas (CGA) because of a lack of city-level representation of individuals in the areas, which encompass all the land within three miles of every direction for the cities of Paola and Osawatomie. In lieu of the CGAs, the planning commission recommended the implementation of joint planning areas. The county would have complete jurisdiction in the new areas, instead of allowing cities to control land use and subdivisions. The new area would require the formation of a new board of commissioners. The joint planning commission would have representation from the city, joint planning areas and the county. Their recommendations would be for the county commission. The concept of the designated areas gives the city officials an idea of where their growth is and what they’ll be annexing in the future. Planning commissioners agreed that one problem with the current growth areas was the lack of a plan on the part of city officials with how to use the growth areas. The new joint planning areas would require city officials to justify the size of their areas and consider the expansion of infrastructure and direction of growth when plotting them, eliminating the three-mile rule. They also recommended requiring a time frame for city officials to complete their plans. Planning Commission Chairman David Wilson said the three-mile rule should be done away with because the planning areas are not a one-size-fits-all concept and would work better if the areas were tailored to each city’s specific needs. The last part of their recommendation involves surveying the individuals in the growth areas to gather their thoughts on the issue. “I think we passed a good recommendation tonight,” he said before adjournment.
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