Kettering Planning Commission recommends adoption of updated comprehensive plan

The Kettering Planning Commission voted to recommend that City Council adopt the city’s updated comprehensive plan (case PC-26-004) after a presentation and discussion on March 16.

Consultant Kyle May of MKSK summarized the three-year update process and told the commission the draft reflects input from “several hundred residents, stakeholders, leadership,” and more than 1,000 public comments collected during two rounds of community engagement. “This is an important document for you all as leaders, as commissioners,” May said, calling the plan a practical, data-informed “policy backstop” intended to guide decisions about land use, housing, transportation and economic development for the next decade.

Staff and the consultant outlined the plan’s core tools: a future land use map, a thoroughfare typology to guide street and right-of-way design, and an implementation matrix that assigns roughly 108 strategies to departments or partners with suggested timeframes ranging from six months to long-term actions. Planning Director Tom Robillard asked the commission to forward a recommendation to City Council, saying staff’s recommendation was to move toward adoption.

Commissioners praised the presentation and asked how the document should be used in practice. May urged commissioners to focus on the plan’s principles and the future land use guidance when evaluating specific projects. Commissioners and staff discussed the cadence of implementation reporting; staff proposed regular updates and agreed to provide earlier, more frequent reports during the plan’s initial rollout. One commissioner suggested semiannual check-ins at the start of implementation to give the commission more meaningful input.

Staff also told commissioners that zoning code amendments intended to align the zoning map with the plan will follow soon. Robillard said staff expects rezonings to neighborhood business for scattered parcels and noted earlier work tied to a council moratorium on new gas stations, drive-through kiosks and similar auto-oriented uses.

Vice Chair Don Rathman moved that the Planning Commission adopt and forward the proposed Kettering Comprehensive Plan as the city’s official long-range planning policy document; the motion was seconded and, following a roll call, the chair declared the motion passed. The commission will forward its recommendation to City Council for final adoption.

There were no audience speakers. Staff announced the Planning Commission is accepting applications to fill a vacant seat and will notify commissioners of the application location on the city website. The commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for April 6, 2026, at 7 p.m.