Pocatello asks for public input on plan for city’s future

The City of Pocatello is putting together a plan for what the Gate City might look like ten years down the road and is asking for public input.

Those putting the comprehensive plan together said it could have some wide ranging impacts on the city.

“People should care because it involves everything. It involves everything from the zoning on your property, what you’re allowed to do with your property,” Pocatello Planning and Zoning Director Lon Crowell said.

Essentially, it’s a blueprint setting a goal of how local leaders hope the Gate City will look in five or 10 years’ time and how they’re going to get there.

“You talk about things like where are the areas where businesses are going to develop, where are we going to develop new parks, where are our new traffic flows going to be,” Pocatello Chamber of Commerce President Matt Hunter said.

And all those aspects mean an awful lot to local businesses, whose fates can often rise or fall based on future zoning or what roads are planned to become major thoroughfares.

“We don’t have a lot of developable business land around here. So we need to really define what sectors are we going to grow in,” Hunter said.

Of course, those decisions can impact a lot more than just local business owners.

And those putting together the plan are hoping to get input from just about everyone.

“If you want to see what your community will become or you want to have a say in what your community will become, then this is the time to do it,” Crowell said.