Brentwood officials start city comprehensive plan process

The Brentwood Board of Aldermen kicked off the city’s comprehensive planning process Thursday with a 7:30 a.m. meeting at the Brentwood Recreation Complex with Houseal Lavigne representatives Devin Lavigne and Matt Filter. The plan is called: Brentwood 20/20, Vision for the Future.

The two from Houseal Lavigne had met with the city directors and planning and zoning on Wednesday. In the Thursday meeting Filter reviewed the work that would lead to a new comprehensive plan for Brentwood.

Brentwood aldermen Brandon Wegge, David Dimmit, Kathy O’Neill, Tom Kramer, Steve Lochmoeller, and mayor, Chris Thornton attended. They commented throughout the meeting, as Filter, a senior associate of the firm from Chicago, went through the work to be done.

The tentative schedule takes the work through ‘Final Plan Adoption’ in the end of May 2017.

Kathy O’Neill at one point said the 2006 comprehensive plan was a “charade,” that it “had no teeth,” and was “pie in the sky.” Later in the meeting Kramer suggested the city should follow up on the plan items, though Thornton said it should be a “guiding document,” not a checklist. He said in five years things may change and they need to be adaptable.

Lavigne said the plan needs to be actionable or it will sit on a shelf. He said there’s a “fine line between visioning and hallucinating.”

Discussing what demographic groups should be involved in addition to the appointed business owners and planning and zoning members on the planning committee, Thornton said to involve the school board because they’re planning a bond issue in 2018-2019. (Thornton said later in the day by email that the school board has not made any decisions with respect to bond issues or any of its facilities, and that what he meant to say is: “the School Board should be an important part of the plan development process because they are considering a bond issue and reviewing their aging facilities.”)

To get community input, an ‘interactive project website’ will be linked to the city site. Kramer wanted to know how they can reach residents who don’t go online but still have opinions. He suggested sending a citywide post card. Filter said they have to think creatively — trying to reach them where they go, like grocery stores. City planning and development director, Lisa Koerkenmeier said the library will be involved.

They talked about the powers of the architectural review board to determine what infill houses should look like. Kramer said the last plan didn’t go far enough in implementing guidelines for homes. Thornton said better guidelines are needed; trees that are removed should be replaced, for instance. Lavigne said they don’t want to perpetuate bad architecture or development; for instance, if a neighborhood is full of vinyl sided houses does a new house need to be vinyl sided too?

At the end the officials were asked to list their wants and concerns for the city.

Wegge: a city center; Dimmitt: lack of bigger homes; O’Neill: bad traffic — on High School Drive it’s “cut throat;” Kramer: what happens to the city’s tax base when more retail goes online; Lochmoeller: flooding on Manchester; Thornton: infill houses.