City Planning Services

Located just east of Central Ohio, the City of Newark is a municipality of approximately 50,000 residents and serves as the county seat for Licking County. BPS provided City Planning services to the City of Newark over a 15-month contract, after which time Ms. Burton, the BPS President, served as the Development Director of the Economic and Community Development Departments. Burton was involved in a variety of activities, including planning, zoning, community and economic development programs, and grant writing and administration.

Activity highlights include:

• City-Wide and Downtown-Focused Planning & Development Efforts — Downtown Bicycle Connector Project, brownfield planning and remediation project management, Comprehensive Plan audit and update outline, Complete Streets Policy & Legislation, Downtown Wayfinding Signage Plan, Downtown 4th Street Streetscape Plan, Downtown Canal District Re-Visioning, City Development Guide

• City Website — new redesigned website that is modern, informative and easy-to-use

• Sustainability Initiatives — Healthy, Green & Growing Initiative that was branded and marketed; targeted catalytic projects and private sector partnerships, including converting a brownfield to a solar energy site

• Grant writing and administration — for various state and federal agencies

• Community engagement efforts — prepared newsletters; gave presentations on downtown revitalization, multi-modal transportation, sustainability; held numerous public information meetings for grants and programs

Clermont County All-Hazards Mitigation Plan

Under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, local jurisdictions must have a disaster mitigation plan in effect to receive funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the event of a natural or manmade disaster. For this project, BPS prepared the update to the Clermont County All-Hazards Mitigation Plan with the purpose of identifying and assessing the hazards that pose the greatest risk to Clermont County’s communities.

BPS completed extensive research on historic hazard events and assessed the risk posed to Clermont County by each hazard. Vulnerability assessments were conducted to determine each hazard’s potential impact to infrastructure, population, and property, and estimate the economic losses that could result from a hazard event.

Additionally, the BPS team performed GIS mapping and Hazus analyses, including a Level 2 Hazus analysis; facilitated stakeholder and public engagement activities; digitized the survey collection process for ease of compiling stakeholder and community feedback; collected mitigation action recommendations; and developed corresponding mitigation strategies to reduce any losses from those hazards. The final mitigation plan established a coordinated process to implement the plan and was reviewed and approved by FEMA.

Comprehensive Growth Plan Update

BPS is working with the City of Livingston, Montana to update the City’s Comprehensive Growth Policy. This updated Growth Policy will serve as an integral land use planning guidance tool as the community, including the 2-mile extraterritorial jurisdiction, grows and develops. Ultimately, the Growth Policy will name the best locations for growth and assist the City with ensuring that development and investment occurs appropriately. The Growth Policy will also include policies and recommendations for trails and walkable communities.

Stakeholder and public involvement have been instrumental in the development of the Growth Policy. This involvement will allow the Plan to reflect the desires and needs of the community as well as the existing and future capacity of the city’s infrastructure, economy, and natural environment. To facilitate community engagement, BPS developed a project website (www.burtonplanning.com/LivingstonGrowthPolicy/) that provides members of the community access to planning updates. The website features information on the planning process, meeting dates and materials, links to digital surveys, as well as opportunities for people to get involved. Individuals can register for email updates and also provide comments directly through the website. To date, over 115 people have signed up for email updates on the Growth Policy, and over 1,000 people have completed the digital surveys.