The Town of Paradise Valley is updating their General Plan; now is the time to get involved and take part in the process.
This exciting initiative will result in a new long-range planning document that will help to maintain the uniqueness of Paradise Valley.
You might be wondering what is a General Plan and why is the town doing this now? The General Plan is the community’s long-range guide for future physical, economic and social development decisions over the next 20+ years.
The General Plan contains goals, policies, and implementation strategies that address issues such as land use, growth, circulation, open space, and the environment. These plans must be updated and adopted by voters every 10 years.
The Town of Paradise Valley’s current General Plan was last ratified by voters in 2012 and this one will be on the August 2022 general election ballot for Paradise Valley voters to ratify.
There are state-mandated “elements,” or topics, that go into a General Plan.
For a community the size of Paradise Valley, state law requires that a General Plan address the following elements:
Land Use
Circulation
Open space
Growth areas
Environmental planning
Cost of development
Water resources
In addition, community character & housing, sustainability, and public facilities were “optional” elements addressed in the 2012 General Plan because they were deemed as being important to the community at that time.
As part of this update process, the General Plan may touch on these same optional topics. There may be new topics that are important to the residents today like health and wellness, conservation, energy or historic preservation.
The town is seeking your input and dialogue into the plan-making process. The public’s involvement will play an important role throughout the next 18 months but now more than ever is when the public’s input is critical.
Outreach to understand community preferences, to assist in developing policies that guide the formulation of all draft documents, will happen between January 2021 and June 2021.
The first of two planned community workshops will take place 6-8 p.m. Jan. 27. This first workshop will be a “Virtual Workshop.” If you want to take part in the interactive discussion you will need to attend via Zoom:
The workshop will also be live streamed via the town’s website for those interested in simply watching and recorded for later viewing on the project website (pvtogether2022.com) if you are unable to attend the evening of the workshop.
The plan is relevant to all who live, work, visit and invest in the town. All of Paradise Valley is invited to collaborate and engage in conversations to bring forth new ideas and bring more people into the General Plan Update process.
To stay informed throughout the process:
Visit the project website: pvtogether2022.com.
Take the online community survey, which can be accessed via the project website above. The survey will be open from Jan. 12 to Feb. 14.
Sign up to be placed on the project email list, also through the project website, to receive the latest project and community event updates throughout the planning process.
Editor’s Note: Loras Rauch is special projects planner of Town of Paradise Valley.
