With construction projects being started and economic development announcements being made on a regular basis, the Troy Planning and Zoning Commission presented an update to the Comprehensive Community Master Plan, which was created in May 2009.

Planning and Zoning Chairman Bill Hopper said the plan was created to provide long-term visions and goals for the future growth and management of the city.

“The plan is an update of the previous 1992 Troy Comprehensive Plan,” Hopper said. “Back in 2009, we determined it was time to do another planning statement, and so we did. We started the process for our new master planned and involved the community. We had a number of public hearings, and established in a variety of areas certain goals we wanted to see the community obtain. All elements of the community came together.”

Hopper said several of the goals had been met for the city, including: diversifying the economy and community development, increasing the growth of Troy University as a major asset for the city and the region, improving the regional access and convenient local transportation encompassing all modes of travel, creating healthy and stable neighborhoods of varying types with a diverse range of housing choices and costs, creating a strong downtown and commercial and business centers to better serve neighborhoods, updating and making infrastructure cost efficient, creating community facilities that service and support regional and neighborhood development, continuing historic preservation of the Arts, culture and tourism as community assets and economic development opportunities and creating a presence of recreation, sports and open space as well as support a healthy environment.

“We went through the process, really trying to find how do we improve the community, but more importantly how do we improve it years down the road,” Hopper said. “It’s been six years. One of the most important things that we wanted to do, and Doug Patterson who used to be vice chancellor at the university told me all this was great but you have to measure what you do, and he was absolutely right. Each year we take a lot at what’s been accomplished. A lot of the things we wanted to accomplish require money so some of them get there and we can’t do them with funding. But, those things that we could do within the budget constraints and work on, we have.”

While some things are still in the works, Hopper said he was astounded at how much had been accomplished.

“It is amazing as I look at this how many things we have accomplished and how quickly some of the things were accomplished,” Hopper said. “There were a number of things that got accomplished in a year’s time. If you look at all of these things over the last five or six years, I don’t know that there is another community that can stand up and say they’ve done this much.”

Those who would like to view the Comprehensive Community Master Plan Progress Report may do so online at troyal.gov. For more information about the progress the city has made or to ask questions concerning the plan, call 566-0177 or attend the next regularly scheduled Planning and Zoning Commission, which meets on the last Thursday of the month when they have agenda items.