Idaho Falls seeking input on comprehensive plan

Do you have an idea for how your city should be developed, or what you think it should look or feel like in five years? Idaho Falls leaders want input from residents as they update the city’s comprehensive plan.

The plan is like a blue-print for how and where the city would like to grow. It’s also about redevelopment, which has occurred south of Broadway and north of Pancheri, for example.

Idaho Falls Planning Director Renee Magee said it’s been about seven years since the last update, and the city has actually grown to the edge of some land in the existing plan.

Nothing drastic is being proposed this time around, said Magee. She said a big emphasis in more recent years is having a community in which people can bike and walk.

Magee said the city center has shifted to areas like Lindsay Boulevard and Taylor Crossing, prompting the question: What other areas might be ready for redevelopment?

“What people have told us in the past, is they want us to look at vacant buildings, vacant land, and find a way to improve it,” said Magee. “And so we’re trying to give them some ideas to see what they think about those ideas.”

As for questions and concerns about the empty spaces at Snake River Landing, Magee said she thinks that is mainly a result of the recession.

The planning department will be out, ready to hear feedback in their “plan van” over the next week. Residents can find the van on Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Community Night Out, Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. in downtown near Alive After Five, and next Monday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Idaho Falls Public Library.

There will be some public hearings in October and November.