The city of Elyria has launched a community survey for residents that will be a part of the process of updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Activity Initiative.
The survey has two parts: one being an interactive page about land use in Elyria where people are invited to make comments on it; and the other is a question-based survey that has sections on quality of life, economic development, housing, parks and recreation and transportation.
Dawn Calvert, director of Economic Transformation and Business Services for the city of Elyria, said this survey will help guide a long range plan for the city.
Plenty of work has gone into getting to this step in the process of the Comprehensive Plan, Calvert said.
“We’ve been at this for about a year,” she said. “We have engaged with a consultant to help us look at this.
“We know the best practice is to have a comprehensive plan and ask people, ‘What are the needs of our community? And, how are we going to address them?'”
The city has worked with MS Consulting to help with this whole process.
Elyria officials have not done a plan and survey like this since the 1970s, and that a new one was much needed, Calvert said.
“The reason it came about, is because we kept bumping into challenges with our zoning code because it hasn’t been updated in a while,” she said. “There’s parts of the code that don’t talk to each other, or contradict each other.
“We talked to each other and realized we can’t just fix one little thing at a time anymore, because it doesn’t address modern developments.”
An example Calvert gave is that there currently is no zoning for solar panels because that technology did not exist when the original zoning code was made in the 1950s.
Calvert said a necessary step before creating the survey was to do an existing conditions report that gives the city data to be able to properly assess what issues Elyria was facing the most.
Now, the city is asking for residents to share their voice on these issues.
“In order to do address issues in the city well, we have to go through this comprehensive planning process that will allow the community to imagine what they want to see for the future of Elyria for about the next 10 years,” Calvert said.
Already, there have been efforts to engage community members in the planning process.
The city has done some surveys already as well as interviews, engagement exercises at the Elyria Parks and Recreation Department and walking tours focused on zoning issues, Calvert said.
The city has taken some inspiration from how other cities are dealing with issues, but Calvert said Elyria has made sure the issues on the survey are specific to Elyria.
The diversity of the city, largely is a reason, the survey needed to be customized, she said.
“Having diversity is such a benefit because you can relate to so many different interests and types of people,” Calvert said “It makes for a richer experience in the community.
“One of the unique things about Elyria is how it rallies around the community. In Elyria, people really do care about each other.”
According to Calvert, after the survey is completed, the plan will go to Elyria’s Planning Commission for approval and then City Council for full approval.
Once that happens, there will be a complete update of the city’s zoning code.
Elyria residents have until Dec. 22 to complete the survey.
It can be accessed online at ourelyria.com and there will be paper versions of it available at Elyria City Hall as well as the East, South and West Recreation Centers in Elyria.
