City planning staff reported updates on the comprehensive‑plan process at the Verona Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 6, saying two recent public open houses were well attended and that a public survey will be launched to collect additional feedback.

"The comp plan is is still on track for an early 2026 completion," Lucas Severson, planning staff, told the commission. He said the first draft of the plan will be prepared in November, the comprehensive plan task force will review it in early December, and a draft will be made available to the public in January.

Severson summarized what staff and the consultant presented at the second round of open houses — one at the senior center and another at the library — and described five subareas of the city where the future‑land‑use map could be refined. He said market changes make some land previously reserved for office or light industrial suitable for other uses and that the plan will emphasize pedestrian and bicycle safety, more grid‑style street patterns and multimodal connections.

On the long‑discussed downtown intersection of Verona and Maine, staff presented three conceptual approaches and the tradeoffs they carry:

- A roundabout, which staff said "allows the most efficient flow of traffic" but reduces bike and pedestrian safety in a downtown setting. Severson said attendees at the open house paid close attention to the safety tradeoffs.

- A one‑way couplet that reroutes some traffic around the main intersection to reduce conflict at crossings; Severson said the approach "does need further study" and would likely require at least one additional traffic signal and coordination where streets do not align.

- A streetscape option that prioritizes bikes and pedestrians; staff said that approach would improve walk and bike safety but "would not really provide a direct address" to vehicular congestion.

Severson said the project team will launch a second survey later this week or early next week and that the survey will be distributed by email to addresses on the project's contact list, posted on the project website, shared via social media and included in the city's newsletter. "There will be a second survey incorporating the visual preference survey boards, which were presented at the open house," he said.

Commissioners asked where the survey would be available; staff answered it will be on the project website and sent to collected emails and city distribution channels. Severson said staff and the comprehensive plan task force have been meeting to draft the future‑land‑use map and that boards presented at the open houses included options to better connect sidewalks, trails and potential future transit corridors.

No formal vote was taken on plan content at the Oct. 6 meeting; Severson described the timeline for next steps, which includes internal staff and task‑force review in November and December followed by public release of a draft in January and subsequent review by the planning commission before the city council makes a final decision.

Staff encouraged anyone who could not attend the open houses to take the online survey once it is published and to submit feedback to planning staff.