Midvale General Plan Due for Update

By Tori Jorgensen

Residents, business owners and elected officials alike are invited to contribute to a new vision for Midvale City this year as the general plan is updated. 

According to the official website, planmidvale.com, the plan will offer a platform with goals and community values to unify the city’s community development division, key staff across city departments and agencies, the planning commission, the city council, civic leaders, stakeholders, business owners and residents. Phillip Hill, assistant city manager, said a simple definition of the general plan is a document that will govern the future policies of Midvale. 

“Who is Midvale? Where do they work? Where do they play? What services do they need? The plan will answer these questions,” Hill said. 

In Fall/Winter 2014 the process for the update began. The prior plans and policies for the city were assessed and the existing conditions were analyzed. The public kickoff event on Feb. 17 was the first major community involvement action. Hill said the community council also did a special “Council with Friends” night, where each council member brought at least five additional people to a meeting to give their insights on the general plan. 

Lesley Burns, city planner, said the project planners have also been striving to get the community involved. 

“People are always busy, so it is hard to get them to come to events,” she said. “Instead of having people come to them, the [planners] are going out to the community. They went to the community Easter egg hunt and to the Midvale Cinco De Mayo event and set up tables to get feedback.” 

Representatives working on the Midvale general plan will be at neighborhood block parties (Aug. 3, 4 and 7) and Harvest Days (Aug. 8 in the Main City Park) to gather input from community members before the plan is finalized and adopted in the fall. 

Hill said one major element of the 2015 update will focus on the recent growth of the Fort Union area, as well as the intended growth of the Overstock.com campus and surroundings, both items too recent to be included in the year 2000 plan. 

Krissy Nielsen, project planner, said the new general plan is not intended to scrap the old plan. 

“We are asking the public what is still relevant in the 2000 general plan, what needs to change, and any new big ideas they have,” she said.  “We are also going to provide direction on projects and implementation strategies in the new plan, instead of just proposing ideas with no accountability for how and when to complete them.”

Along with being more detailed, Nielsen said this time around the plan will be aesthetically appealing and easy to read. 

“Our goal is to have a pretty, graphical plan that people will want to use daily,” she said. 

Burns said the revitalizing of the plan could bring a new life to Midvale City. 

“The overall outcome of the plan could be a more vibrant community,” she said. “We encourage everyone to participate [in the general plan update]. It won’t work well without involvement. We need to know what the community wants.”