A proposed $2.2 million capital improvements plan for the city of Carey received preliminary approval from the city's Planning and Zoning Commission late last week.
The plan will now go to the City Council for final consideration and possible approval. The City Council will discuss the plan at a July 27 meeting.
According to Carey Planning and Zoning Administrator Sara Mecham, the city must have a capital improvements plan before it can establish development impact fees. The need for development impact fees is the real reason why Carey is establishing the $2.2 million plan, Mecham said.
"This is the first step," she said.
Money generated by development impact fees would go toward funding the items in Carey's capital improvements plan, Mecham said.
If approved by the City Council, the new capital improvements plan would be added to Carey's comprehensive plan, which is a planning blueprint for the city's future growth.
Items included in Carey's proposed capital improvements plan are primarily related to upgrades and maintenance of the city's streets and bridges and the equipment needed to conduct such work.
They include:
· $200,000 to purchase road equipment.
· $300,000 to acquire land for construction of a city shop to house city road and bridge equipment and $100,000 to pay for construction of the shop.
· $75,000 to purchase a backhoe for ditch and trench work.
· A total of $1,547,200 for upgrades and improvements to portions of Little Wood Reservoir Road, Scott & Janice Road, Cenarussa Lane, Griffin Loop, Mountain View Lane and Queen's Crown Road.
During the same P&Z meeting last week, commissioners listened to John Gaeddert, a contract Carey city planner, as he discussed the possibility of revising the housing section of Carey's comprehensive plan.
Carey is without a design-review requirement for home construction, Gaeddert said. This means a developer could come to the city and build a tract-home development, he added.
"We might see 60-odd homes that look the same," Gaeddert said.
Gaeddert suggested the city should undertake a public process of determining what people living in Carey want the city to look like.
One possible solution would be to take pictures of homes and buildings in Carey and in other municipalities and post them on a wall during a public workshop, Gaeddert said. Those participating in the workshop would select design attributes they like from the photos.
This could lead to changes in Carey's comprehensive plan and "add some design," Gaeddert said.
The idea was met with interest from P&Z commissioners.
"I'd like to do that; take some pictures," Commissioner Jim Peterson said.
No date for such a workshop has been set, but it will likely happen sometime in August, P&Z administrator Sara Mecham said.
