Homewood launches comprehensive-plan update; consultants ask residents to shape a 20-year vision

Homewood officials and their consultants formally launched an update to the city's comprehensive plan at a public workshop where they sought residents' input on growth, transportation, housing and redevelopment.

Kyle Smith, the city manager for Homewood, introduced the consulting team and thanked attendees for coming. "This means a lot to the city," he said, and emphasized the meeting was the start of a process, not a decision: "Nothing has been decided. We're at the very beginning of this process," Brian Wright, principal of Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative (TPUDC), told the room.

The consultants described the planning framework as three linked "buckets": community input (events, surveys, mapping exercises), data analysis (demographics, building permits, market trends) and best practices (examples from other cities). "This is your chance to put your fingerprints on the planning process," Matt Newcaster of City Explained said, urging attendees to complete engagement survey cards collected at sign-in so staff can compare participants' demographics to the city profile.

Why it matters: The comprehensive plan will produce a growth-and-conservation (future land use) map that informs infrastructure investments and future zoning decisions. Consultants said the map and accompanying policies are meant to create predictability about where development and public investments should occur and will drive later, more detailed actions such as zoning updates and follow-up studies.

Key issues callers and consultants spotlighted included limited undeveloped land, stormwater and aging infrastructure, housing shortages and potential redevelopment of Brookwood Mall. The team framed the plan as a 20-year vision: "We're looking at least 20 years out into the future," Matt said, and said the document will include policies, recommendations and a future land use map to guide city decisions.

Consultants sketched how the process will proceed: a discovery phase (months 1), development with alternatives and scenario testing, and a direction phase when maps and draft policies are written. The schedule the team laid out calls for a public ward meeting No. 2 in April, another ward meeting in June or July, a client draft in fall or winter, a public draft for review and, ultimately, an adoption process before city council in late winter or spring.

On transportation, a resident asked whether the plan can influence Highway 31, which is a state route. Wright said state ownership can limit local authority but described cases where local governments and state agencies worked together to redesign roads: "Usually when something's a state route, the first answer is no... we don't always take no for an answer," he said, citing a prior example in another community where a five-lane state road later became a two-lane, pedestrian-friendly street after sustained advocacy and coordination.

Before attendees began a 30-minute mapping exercise, the consultants explained how to mark the city map (blue dots for opportunities, red for areas needing improvement, green for places residents love). They also reminded participants that a drop-in station with different exercises would be open the next day from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and encouraged residents who could not attend to use the project website to review materials and provide input.

The consultants and staff framed the update as a collaborative effort intended to produce a practical document elected leaders and staff will use, rather than a report that sits on a shelf. The next public engagement opportunities and the online portal were listed as the immediate steps for residents wanting to participate further.