MARKLEVILLE — The Markleville town council accepted the town’s new comprehensive plan at last week’s November meeting.
The council unanimously voted Monday, Nov. 13, to accept the Maximize Markleville 2035 Comprehensive Plan that was recommended to them by the town’s Plan Commission the week prior.
“The idea of this is it gives us citizen feedback on what our directive should be based on what the citizens want,” town council president Daniel Roseberry said.
Created with the help of the Madison County Council of Governments, the plan is supposed to last until 2035, but revisions can be made as the town sees fit.
According to the plan, it will guide the future of Markleville for the next 12 years according to input from residents and stakeholders.
“This is a 12-year plan, and some of the stuff is meant to be dragged out over 12 years based on what’s financially feasible now and what’s not,” Roseberry said. “It’s meant to help plan for future expansion for the community.”
The plan was driven by the vision statement, “Markleville will invest in its community character to cultivate growth opportunities to establish a vibrant smalltown destination,” and was broken down into seven main categories, Administrating, Transportation, Economic Development, Utilities and infrastructure, Placemaking, Managing Growth and Land Use.
The plan will serve as the foundation for ways the town can help deal with growth and future development and was built around the following themes:
• Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions. • Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost-effective.
• Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities.
• Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place. • Create a wide range of housing opportunities and choices.
• Create walkable neighborhoods.
• Take advantage of compact building design.
• Preserve open spaces, farmlands, and critical environmental areas.
• Have a mix of land uses.
• Provide a variety of transportation choices.
Laid out in the plan are also four implementation projects to help the town begin to follow the plan immediately. These include a downtown beautification project, a community gateway design project, holding more community engagement events, and renovating the community park.
“Those will really be our primary focus,” Roseberry said.
The town has also created a board that will help ensure the town is following the plan. Its first meeting is scheduled for February.
The full comprehensive plan can be found on the town’s website, markleville.in.gov.