A series of meetings to garner public input on the wants and needs for the City of Lake Ozark are scheduled to begin soon as part of the city’s upgrade of its Comprehensive Plan.
The plan, which is long-term guide for the community, hasn’t been updated since 2006. While the city’s economic base and infrastructure have evolved in the last decade, the city’s master development plan has remained unchanged for some 15 years. The Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments is crafting the new document at no cost to the city with input from the city and its residents.
“The plan gives the city a vision as to how it wants development in the future,” LOCOLG Executive Director Linda Connor explained when the board voted last year to move ahead with the process. “We want to make sure we put in the plan what the city wants to look like in the next 10-15 years.”
An updated Comprehensive Plan is important when the city applies for state and federal funds.
Meetings
As part of the process, three engagements meetings are planned over the summer, allowing the public to sit down with city staff and Council of Government personnel to offer their vision on targeted topics for Lake Ozark over the next decade and beyond. Topics could include housing, zoning, infrastructure needs, residential and commercial growth, etc.
Harrison Fry, the city’s community development director and assistant city administrator, said the Comprehensive Plan will serve as a resource for decisions affecting the city’s development and economic growth.
“The new Comprehensive Plan will serve as the guiding force for the city as we continue to grow in the near future,” Fry said. “This document will provide a rationale for decision-making for our boards and commissions, and will also show the world what the priorities and direction are for the City of Lake Ozark.”
Once the plan is completed by LOCOLG, city staff will present it to the Planning & Zoning Commission for its review and input. It will then go before the board of aldermen for additional review before final adoption. That should happen later this fall so the city would have a revitalized plan for its future by the start of 2022.
Engagement meetings
No specific dates have been set for the public meetings, but the anticipated topics of each includes:
•Land Use Planning & Goals Meeting.
Staff will facilitate this meeting to discuss possible future land use scenarios and build consensus among the committee to develop a future land use map. This meeting will also begin the process of setting simple and concise goals for the community based on the survey results and gathered information.
•Objectives and Strategies Meeting.
The LOCLG staff will provide suggestions to the committee for establishing objectives and strategies for each goal building off the previous meeting.
•Objectives and Strategies Meeting.
This will provide an opportunity to continue discussion of any remaining topics not covered in the previous meeting and fine tune all of the objectives and strategies.
The LOCLG staff will write the full and complete document. City staff will review and make comments and suggest edits as needed.