City of Tampa: Building Our Legacy, A Livable City

The proposed Tampa Comprehensive Plan is the farthest advanced in its schedule.  This 500-page document represents a complete re-engineering of the existing plan, with new topics, better formatting, more pictures, expanded issue discussion and visions of success.  In addition to the familiar topics such as Future Land use and infrastructure,  new features include an asset-based approach to looking at the future, children's issues, the economy, directing future growth, the role people play in growing, shaping and changing the city, mobility, and building a physical city that is very appealing and livable.  The plan not only addresses state and local regulations, but also how the city can become livable.  The Planning Commission held a public hearing on May 12, 2008, and unanimously endorsed it and sent it to Tampa City Council.  The Council will hold a hearing this evening, June 26, 2008, for transmitting the draft plan to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for review.  The DCA will issue its findings and return it to the City.  A public hearing for adoption is expected to be held Fall, 2008. 

The proposed draft plan can be reviewed on-line at http://www.plan2025.org

City of Plant City: Embracing the Future, While Preserving our Past

The updated Comprehensive Plan for the City of Plant City will be next in the schedule.  This plan will be following the more traditional format with many enhancements added.  Some of those enhancements include children's issues, broader ones addressing people, the economy, growth and hometown charm.  The city is growing rapidly, and with the recent annexations north of I-4 and the completion of the Northeast Master Plan Area Master Plan, the concern is how to integrate this area into the larger city, both physically and socially.   The results of this study and a study of the Midtown Area (south of downtown) will be included in the comprehensive plan update.  Coordinated and compatible growth around the city's boundaries is a long-range planning issue too, and the City is exploring a joint planning area with Hillsborough County for those lands.  The proposed Plant City Comprehensive Plan will be taken to the Planning Commission for a workshop on August 11, 2008, followed by a Planning Commission public hearing on September 8, 2008.  The Plant City City Commission is expected to hold a public hearing for the purposes of transmitting it to the Florida Department of Community Affairs in October 2008.  Adoption hearings are tentatively scheduled for February 2009.

Temple Terrace: A Beautiful Environment Embraced by Diverse Citizens

The updated Comprehensive Plan for the City of Temple Terrace will follow last in the schedule.  Temple Terrace's Comprehensive Plan will be produced in a traditional format, like Plant City's plan.  It will be organized around the topical elements required by the State, such as Future Land Use and  Public Facilities.  There are many new ideas and issues being introduced within these elements.  Issues identified by the citizens of Temple Terrace include how we sustain ourselves and our good quality of life and allow for opportunities for regeneration of some areas of the city.  The effects of growth around and outside Temple Terrace are affecting its roadways and threatening to shut down future development in the city.  Recently, staff participated in a complex process to adopt a multi-modal transportation district for the entire city that addresses this issue, and this will be a key component in the City's proposed plan.  The Planning Commission will hold a workshop on Temple Terrace's proposed plan on August 11, 2008 and a public hearing on November 10, 2008.  City Council is expected to hold their transmittal public hearing in late November/early December 2008 with adoption in Spring 2009.