City planners believe this new tool can help the city better determine, and eventually deliver, the projects that residents want.
The goal of the Neighborhood Planning Program would be to use community input to draft a capital improvement plan for each of the 21 neighborhoods in the city, Plantation City Planner Marcia Berkley said.
``It involves sitting down with neighborhood associations and stakeholders in the area, talking about what their issues are and what assistance they need from the city,'' she said. ``We then come up with recommendations on how we can address those issues. It's a real open dialogue.''
The Planning Department, which is spearheading the effort, will ask the City Council to approve the proposal - but not to allocate funds - at a meeting beginning at 7:30 p.m. July 28 at City Hall, 400 NW 73rd Ave.
If given the go-ahead, the department intends to start with the Park East and Country Club Estates neighborhoods, both areas east of Florida's Turnpike, Berkley said. Under the plan, the capital budgets for each neighborhood would be developed from neighborhood concerns.
A kickoff meeting would be scheduled to listen to the community. The appropriate city officials would attend subsequent meetings - for instance, city engineers for speeding complaints or police for problems with crime, Berkley said.
``Residents would get real hands-on assistance from the experts,'' Berkley said.
Following the dialogue, officials would develop a five-year plan for each neighborhood. Each plan would come before the City Council for approval on a case-by-case basis, relying on city funds and grants, Berkley said.
City planners are hoping the program not only will strengthen the bonds between City Hall and homeowners but will bring about much-needed improvements, said Economic Development Coordinator Kristin Mory.
``It's really a neighborhood-by-neighborhood plan,'' Mory said.
The idea for developing long-range plans for residential neighborhoods and business communities came from a citywide visioning session two years ago, Mory said. Homeowners asked for capital improvement projects ranging from parks to decorative street lights to jogging paths. Some property owners asked the city to help their businesses attract customers.
The city already is pursuing such a relationship with one business - the city's only industrial park at Sunrise Boulevard and 16th Street, near Plantation High School. Officials are finishing up a plan to help the park attract and retain businesses.
In May, Mory organized a meeting of the industrial-park business owners and city officials. Property owners at the struggling park have complained for years that the city zoning process hinders many light industrial businesses and offices that are becoming more typical of industry than the packed warehouses and huge machinery common when Plantation drafted the zoning laws.
City officials are discussing putting in gateways and directional signs and revisiting zoning regulations.
``Now we understand better how to market the park,'' Mory said. ``There are things we can do to help these businesses be more successful.''
Planners hope they can replicate that success with neighborhoods. Berkley said she decided to get her staff going and pursue the residential program after receiving encouragement earlier this year from Mayor Rae Carole Armstrong.
So far, there is no time line for having the neighborhood budgets finished or putting the projects in place, Mory said. It should take an average of eight months to develop a budget for each neighborhood, but some plans will be done concurrently, she said.