By Michael Howell
The City of Hamilton adopted an updated Growth Policy last week. According to Special Projects Director Dennis Stranger, the update has been in the works for about a year and the city Planning Commission met five times on the issue before recommending approval to the City Council.
Stranger said that a recent survey shows that half the people living in Hamilton have moved to the city in the last ten years.
“Our town is changing,” said Stranger. He said the updated growth policy was needed to pursue other items on the city’s agenda such as updates in the land use regulations and the city’s Capital Improvement Plan.
According to Stranger, the City saw a high rate of growth from 1990 through 2010. That growth slowed down a bit following the downturn of the economy in 2008. He said since 2009 the city has seen a decline in construction and manufacturing, but tourism managed to remain steady.
Stranger recited a long list of accomplishments in planning at the City, including an updated Downtown Plan, Water Facility Plan, Education Plan, Transportation Safety Plan, Non-motorized Transportation Plan, Park Master Plan, pedestrian and trail plan, and a pre-disaster evacuation plan. The city has also joined the state’s Main Street Program and updated a number of municipal codes.
The top three items to emerge in a recent survey of citizen’s concerns included concerns about planning, water quality, preserving the small town character and controlling sprawl. The top concerns involving planning policy included making Hamilton more pedestrian friendly, paying for infrastructure improvements such as the water and sewer upgrades, and minimizing traffic congestion.
Stranger said that major new concerns in the area of planning are centered around the US Highway 93 corridor. He said the planning process for that has just begun.
The council voted unanimously to adopt the policy update.