MANSFIELD — Shelby, Mansfield and Richland County as a whole want to plan ahead for future land use.
During a strategic planning update last year, Jessica Gribben, Shelby’s economic development manager, said the city determined it needed a comprehensive land use management plan.
As cities grow, this type of document will help cities decide where it should invest time and resources, as well as where it should locate residential and commercial/industrial development.
Gribben spoke with Jotika Shetty, Richland County Regional Planning Commission executive director, for advice on how to approach the process. During their conversation, Shetty said the county’s plan was due for an update itself.
“The City of Ontario and the Village of Lexington have just recently done comprehensive plans,” Gribben told county commissioners Thursday morning. “They saw the value and went ahead and did their plans.”
Gribben and Shetty also spoke with Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry, who expressed similar interest in updating her city’s plan.
With multiple parties interested, Gribben said she and Shetty decided it made sense to pursue the updating process jointly.
“Then everybody has a working document that they can go off of, but then specifically meets the needs of Shelby and Mansfield — saving money of the taxpayers across the county (by) doing it jointly,” she said.
Commissioners approved a county taxpayer contribution of $50,000 from the board’s general fund to help cover expenses for an outside consultant to work on a comprehensive, long-term land use plan — which will encompass Shelby, Mansfield and the county respectively.
Shetty said the commission set a budget of $150,000 to $225,000 for the work to be completed.
Commissioner Cliff Mears said the last time the county’s land use plan was updated was around 2009.
“I think it is appropriate to document and coordinate land use as Jotika (Shetty) and I discussed when we looked at the map,” Mears said. “I think it seems the right thing to do.”
Shetty plans to have contract signed in October
Commissioner Tony Vero raised questions regarding how long the updating would take. He explained that by the time it’s finished, there may be shifts in those holding office.
“When you do plans of this magnitude, it takes a lot of time,” Vero said, warning it could become outdated more quickly than what is expected.
Gribben said she expects the process to take about 12 to 18 months to complete — two years at maximum. Shetty said the commission plans to put out a request for proposals next week.
“We plan to have a signed contract in October. Twelve months (for completion) is what we have as our timeline in the RFP,” the executive director said.
Land usage planning is beneficial when it comes to conversations with potential developers, Gribben said. In March, Perry echoed similar sentiments.
She led the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development for a decade before running for the mayor’s office.
“These (long-term land use plans) are things developers ask us for when they are considering coming to town. It’s an important tool for us to have,” the mayor previously told Mansfield lawmakers.
“We cannot find anything recently where the city has done this, so anything we have is outdated,” Perry said.
