Roswell launches comprehensive plan update, opens public hearing for 2045 horizon

Roswell city staff on Monday opened a state-required public hearing to begin work on the city's Comprehensive Growth Plan for the 2045 horizon, presenting an implementation-focused timetable and soliciting public comment on the process and schedule.

The plan update will align economic development and infrastructure investment, include five-year capital-improvement and work-program lists, and serve as the policy basis for land-use decisions and for imposing impact fees, Michelle Alexander, Director of Community Development, told Mayor Pro Tem Lehi Hills and the council.

"The state does require we have a public hearing, and the first hearing is just to announce the fact that we're getting started," Alexander said. She told the council the project team will publish a schedule, form a stakeholder committee for council appointment and bring back a draft for the statutorily required second public hearing when it is ready for formal consideration.

Alexander said the document will be an "implementation program" rather than a laundry list of aspirations and that each city department will lead and inform chapters covering their areas (transportation, parks and recreation, economic strategy). "If you want to be able to say yes to something, let's put it in the policy. If you want to say no to something, that needs to be in this policy," she said.

Resident Courtney Rozier asked about the communication plan for updates and the composition and selection of the stakeholder committee, citing concerns about this being an election year and whether incoming elected officials would participate in later implementation. Alexander and staff said the project webpage and a communications plan will be posted within weeks and that state guidance lists stakeholders the city should consider; the council will decide the final stakeholder appointments. "The only thing that's required is that you have elected officials on that stakeholder, and that will be up to council to decide," Alexander said.

The public hearing was strictly informational: staff emphasized there was no action requested at the meeting. Council members did not take action and the item was recorded as discussion only.

Next steps outlined by staff include publishing the project webpage within about three weeks, returning to council July 14 with appointments for a stakeholder committee and advancing consultant work through the fall and into early next year for final deliverables.