The City of Centerville and Washington Township continue each month to approve new development proposed for our area. Attending a meeting of the Centerville Planning Commission or the Washington Township Zoning Commission is similar to looking into a crystal ball and seeing our future. And for that, we are fortunate in this community to have Create the Vision.

Create the Vision is the joint Comprehensive Plan for Centerville and Washington Township that was adopted in 2004. It is the guiding policy document being used for all land use and development decisions being made in our community.

Create the Vision is also protecting our community from the undesirable effects of growth such as suburban sprawl, highway gridlock, and stagnant economic development. Create the Vision is an effort to stop our community from being overrun by subdivisions and strip malls connected by ever-widening highways.

Create the Vision’s number one goal is: Land use that obtains an efficient use of land resources to encourage strategic development and redevelopment, preserves natural areas, strengthens downtown, and includes a range of housing choices – all in a high quality manner in keeping with the best planning practices for the entire community.

If our population and land consumption trends of the past 35 years continue, this community is expected to be completely built-out in just 20 years. If we take a more conservative consumption approach, all developed land is still expected to be completely built-out in 35 years. Given that this community is over 200 years old, and it is only in the last 35 years that we’ve experienced such dramatic growth, the time frame remaining is profound.

Adhering to these principles means that decisions concerning how land is used – from how far a building should be set back from the road to how wide a road should be – will be different from what was allowed in the past, and now supported by a vision and a plan for the entire community.

What was once a symbol of suburban life in America, and being built by the millions – the cul-de-sac – is now being banned in some cities across America. Instead, community planners are calling for the creation of community parks, trails and sidewalks to be built within neighborhoods. These provide a much safer environment for residents, especially children, to play, bike, skate and walk.

Although we have not banned cul-de-sacs in this community, I have witnessed planning meetings where developers were denied approval and told to resubmit plans that better comply with Create the Vision.

Most of the subdivisions and neighborhoods that are being approved today will be complete in approximately two years. And that is not a very long time at all. If you would like to voice your concern about what you’d like the new neighborhoods in this community to be, I encourage you to attend a Planning or Zoning Commission meeting.

The next meeting of the Centerville Planning Commission will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 25th in the Council Chambers of the Centerville Municipal Building. The next meeting of the Washington Township Zoning Commission will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18th at the Washington Township Government Center. And if you’d like to learn more about Create the Vision, our next meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 12th in the Washington Township Fire Headquarters. All meetings are free and open to the public. Your participation is encouraged and welcomed.

Thank you for joining me this month in the Create the Vision column. I am the Project Manager for Create the Vision and if you missed last month’s column, you may read it on our website at www.createthevision.org.