The Planning Commission held a workshop in September to discuss the City’s Comprehensive Plan, a project that is expected to take months to complete. The document reviews the current condition of the City and discusses future goals and aspirations.
Senior planner of Arro Consulting, Craig Kologie, and Assistant Project Designer Emily Yatron have been integral in the creation of the Plan. The Commission is currently in phase one, where research and analysis are done, which includes the City Survey. With the survey, the Commission will have an idea what the residents want to see in their city for the next ten years. This phase is estimated to take around three months.
The survey has already proven successful. City staff have made an online version and a hard copy available at City Hall and the various festivals throughout the City since its development in August. Kologie said that the survey is to be available for a total of eight weeks, putting the end of October as its possible final date.
As for the prominent in-person interviews, which are more substantial and directed at key City personnel, City staff have been able to narrow it down to 15 interviewees. The smaller number will allow the same interviewer to interview all of the key persons, allowing consistency and better control of the questions and answers.
At first, Kologie expected to do some of the interviews over Zoom, however, the majority of the Commission felt more honest answers would be received if done face-to-face. Kologie did point out that a benefit to Zoom is the ability to record the meeting for future revisitation. The final decision was to pick a few dates to do the majority of the interviews in person and if anyone isn’t able to make it in person, they can do their interview via Zoom.
Kologie described the traffic issues that Taneytown faces as "pretty eye opening" while driving around earlier in the day. "I do not know where everyone is coming from or where they’re going!"
He mentioned the high density and seclusion of Carroll Vista and how that surprised him. He asked if there was a lot of interaction between the development's residents and the City itself. City Council Liaison Chris Tillman said that although there is a lot of interaction with the Commercial District in the City, he felt their interaction with the Downtown District was limited. He did not limit this belief to Carroll Vista residents, stating that most of the developments in the City had limited interactions with the Main Street area. "There isn’t a whole lot up here for them to do and I think they would probably come up if there was more geared to their interests," he said. City resident and business owner Paul Kluth, who has been an active participant in city government, agreed with Tillman, saying that although the Carroll Vista residents do frequent some downtown stores, they are "hungry for the downtown to revitalize and
they want to see more."
Yatron reviewed the changes she had made so far with the Plan’s physical attributes. "We are trying to make it more visually appealing and to invite the reader to be interested," she said. So far, the Plan has the title page, acknowledgments, table of contents, and goals finished. Kologie said all of the pictures in the Plan have and will be sourced from Taneytown itself. "The intent is to use all local pictures that community members have taken so they can take some ownership in the document," he said. Tillman suggested they have a photo contest. "Maybe we can have people submit photographs of what they think really emulates Taneytown," he said. The suggestion was well received by the Commission, with Yatron suggesting the Parks and Recreation Commission to hold the competition.
