Dayton council frames 10‑year strategic goals, prioritizing water, roads, facilities, housing and business growth

Dayton City Council met in a goal‑setting session to identify long‑term priorities and near‑term actions staff should pursue for 2025 and beyond. Staff opened the session saying the purpose was to move from lists of short tasks toward a small set of long‑range strategic initiatives that staff could implement through annual action items and performance indicators.

The council broadly agreed to retain the four strategic initiatives on the template staff provided, with one wording change: councilors favored “build and maintain quality infrastructure” instead of just “build.” Staff described a structure for each initiative with a long‑term goal (roughly 10–25 years), measurable targets and one‑ to two‑year action items to be updated annually.

Water and historic‑village supply: Councilors singled out ensuring a safe, reliable water supply as a top long‑term goal. Staff proposed using water‑quality measures rather than resident complaint counts as the key outcome indicator; councilors agreed the indicator should be meeting primary and secondary drinking‑water standards and set a target of “equitable water across the city.” An action item the council endorsed was to initiate a historic‑village water plan as a first step toward that target. Staff noted a well‑treatment project now has an updated completion window of January–February 2026. A previously listed target — establishing a park‑and‑ride by 12/23 — was discussed and acknowledged as not met.

Transportation and Dayton Parkway: Councilors agreed to broaden a transportation goal to “establish a comprehensive roadway system.” They discussed north–south connectivity as the pressing need and settled on counting major and minor north–south connections as an indicator. The council identified resolving the Dayton Parkway alignment and related zoning as a priority action and tasked staff to review options for the Parkway and produce engineering/scenario work so council can consider an adopted road plan. Remedies for Fernbrook (including roundabouts) were discussed as a targeted mitigation item.

Public facilities and City Hall: Councilors changed language from “prepare a plan” to “address public facility needs to meet the city’s growth.” They directed staff to produce a public facilities assessment (called a facility needs assessment) and to compile existing studies for council review to determine whether new work is needed. Councilors recalled a prior remodel estimate of about $1.5 million for the current City Hall remodel and discussed space, storage and election‑related requirements as part of targets.

Housing and land use: The council kept a broad goal to provide a variety of housing options. Members emphasized housing type and lot‑size diversity (senior housing, townhomes, multifamily) rather than fixed price points, and proposed targets measuring the proportion of housing types available to meet community needs. Action items included updating the comprehensive plan and pursuing large‑area plans or staging‑area updates to influence what types of development occur, and exploring a three‑district zoning approach. Councilors also asked staff to research rental‑housing regulation models (renter/landlord registration or rental‑unit standards) as a potential action to preserve neighborhood housing diversity.

Economic development and commercial sector: Councilors described a goal of a healthy commercial and industrial sector and discussed indicators such as net business growth (incoming minus outgoing businesses), net change in jobs, and commercial tax base growth. They debated whether the city should be more proactive in recruiting higher‑paying employers and directed staff to keep reviewing grant opportunities and to consider targeted outreach to support local business expansion.

Process and next steps: Staff said it will circulate the draft spreadsheet of goals and action items to councilors for edits and will bring an updated document back for further review and adoption. Several councilors requested that staff return engineering options and clearer deliverables for the Parkway and a public facilities assessment to guide later decisions.

The session produced direction and specific staff action items but no formal motions or votes.