Brundidge sets final hearing for city plan

Published 9:25 pm Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The third and final Public Workshop designed to develop a comprehensive plan for the city of Brundidge will take place Thursday from 1:30. to 4:00 p.m.

Mayor Jimmy Ramage has emphasized the need for citizen participation in the process in order to ensure that the final product is truly reflective of the City of Brundidge.

Any and all Brundidge residents are encouraged to attend the forum, which will continue discussions on a vision for the city and the implementation of that vision.

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In previous meetings, Tracy Delaney of the South Central Alabama Development Commission presented a detailed plan that assessed the needs of the city and proposed methods for addressing those needs.

Residents who have attended have named several aspects of the city that they would like not to change such as the good people, racial harmony, good law enforcement, strong churches, a charming downtown area and the city’s electrical system and its resulting cash flow.

Participants then named what Delaney coined “the good, the bad and the ugly,” or assets, liabilities and issues.

Some assets pointed out were the school system, access to local government, local sports and good elder services.

Residents voiced concern over such liabilities as animal control, drugs, pollution and litter, dilapidated housing and downtown parking.

Some issues identified were the need for more retail businesses, the location of and access to the post office and the Pike County High School dropout rate.

Delaney established six elements of the comprehensive plan for the city and asked those present to establish goals to improve each category.

At the second meeting, Delaney reviewed topics from the first meeting before breaking the residents attending into groups to suggest actions that would help to accomplish the goals that had been set. A framework was created to identify and elaborate on five of the six elements of the plan that Delaney had designated. The outline highlighted different ideas to improve those elements, and also indicated who should be responsible for the undertaking and a time frame for the completion of those tasks.

The sixth element of the city plan, land use, will be addressed at Thursday’s workshop. Those at the meeting will discuss ways to develop an industrial park, improve and maintain the downtown district and develop gateways at entrances to Brundidge.

Participants can then expect to move further into the planning and development phase of the ideas proposed for the future of Brundidge.