Written by Tiane Davis // Graphic by Makayla McDonald
After over a year of gathering input from the community, Crafton Tull, an engineering, design and survey firm, presented a city master plan last week. The presentation was at the Carmichael Center and had three parts: parks and recreation, bike and pedestrian paths and city infrastructure. Posters with data, maps and additional information were displayed in the gym.
Crafton Tull vice president of planning, Julie Kelso, said the first public meeting to discuss the master plan was last October, and members of the community filled out surveys to give the company an idea of what their priorities were. Crafton Tull hosted two public meetings after the initial one to discuss parts of the plan in depth.
Kelso said the plan is not only about current issues with the city’s layout, but ones that might need to be addressed in 10 or 20 years.
“It’s also looking into the future and thinking about, ‘By 2040, what is our population going to be?” Kelso said. “What do we need to be doing to accommodate future growth in the city as well?’”
Kelso said every part of the city master plan is centered around the three public meetings that were held in the past year because those were times when the community was able to provide feedback.
“The community plays a huge role,” Kelso said. “A good plan is one that the community has embraced and the community feels like meets their needs that have been expressed throughout the process.”
Kelso said the company applied for the $25 million federal RAISE grant, which was awarded to Russellville and Conway in past years. If awarded the grant, she said, Searcy should have more than enough funds to implement the improvements suggested in the master plan.
Brad Peterson, Crafton Tull vice president of infrastructure, said that each part of the process involved input from Searcy residents. Residents first gave ideas on what they wanted to see done with roads in town, and another survey was later sent to residents asking which of those projects needed to be prioritized.
“Safety improvements are the highest priority for this,” Peterson said. “The community affects how we rank those.”
The infrastructure plan ended up having 42 projects to implement, Peterson said, but the master plan is an amendable document that will evolve over time. The process of including input from the community serves as a decision-making tool for Crafton Tull.
City council member Rodger Cargile, who was born and raised in Searcy, said more improvements in Searcy are being made than ever before.
“Never before in my life have we had things going on like we have now,” Cargile said. “I can’t wait to see some more things happening, and I want my kids to have an opportunity for jobs and a want to stay here like I did.”
Cargile said the most important part of the community improvement process is input from its residents.
“We want to make the right decisions, and we want to do what the public wants,” Cargile said. “We absolutely beg the community for input because it’s not just about the 20-year plan. It’s about how the city is doing as a whole.”
