What you need to know about Blueprint Irondale
Reading time: 4 minutes
Irondale is planning some big changes in regards to its infrastructure. Blueprint Irondale, the city’s planning commission, is working to map out the future. Keep reading to learn more about the program and how you can get involved.
What is Blueprint Irondale?
Blueprint Irondale is a comprehensive plan that will set the course for the future of Irondale. The city has experienced exponential growth in the past few years, as Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Maserati bring new job opportunities.
Blueprint Irondale is an update to the current Comprehensive Plan. The last plan was created five years ago. The update will focus on areas like:
- Grants Mill Station + Corridor
- Historic Downtown Irondale
Blueprint Irondale will help the city plan for continued economic and infrastructure growth. Using resident input, it will create a path forward and work with the larger plans from the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham (RPCGB).
Hear from Hunter Garrison, Project Manager, about what Blueprint Irondale is and what it aims to accomplish.
“It’s a document that guides decision making, as it relates to the built environment. There’s a heavy transportation component with recommendations, not just for vehicular traffic, but also cycling and pedestrian traffic.
It’s a way to guide and steer Irondale’s growth in a direction that is very citizen-driven. That’s one of the most important parts of this process. We have a big public involvement phase for this plan. So far, we’ve had over 600 surveys taken. Our job as planners is to interpret what people are saying then make recommendations based on public feedback”
Hunter Garrison, Project Manager, Blueprint Irondale
The details
The Comprehensive Plan for Blueprint Irondale invovles four steps and is expected to take about a year to complete. Check out the steps below:
- Kickoff Phase
- Development Phase
- Review Phase
- Adoption
Citizen input is vital throughout the process, particularly during the Kickoff and Plan Review phases. These are the times when Blueprint Irondale needs input from Irondale citizens about what they want the future of their city to look like.
“It’s critical that we get information from everyone in Irondale. We’ll never get the same feel for the community that someone who lives there does. The more input we have from the public, the better we can understand the community, and that goes directly into the plan. It has to be very citizen driven, so that we can make recommendations that really represent the entirety of the community.”
Hunter Garrison, Project Manager, Blueprint Irondale
One recent town hall was held in Irondale to discuss the future of bike lanes in the city. Cyclists met with Blueprint Irondale to discuss where bike lanes will be the most useful and enjoyable throughout the city.
What’s happening right now?
Blueprint Irondale is still in the planning stages and taking community input on future plans for the city. Recently, the planning commission held meetings with cyclists about potential bike lanes around Irondale. The commission has also held meetings about economic growth and the goals of the plan.
The motivation behind Blueprint Irondale is the incredible growth the city has seen over the past few years. Check out just a few of the businesses that have moved in lately:
Get involved
If you’re an Irondale resident and want to get involved with the future of the city, Blueprint Irondale has several opportunities for you.
Blueprint Irondale has complete the Kickoff Phase, and the next town hall meeting will be held in the Fall of 2021 as part of the Development Phase. Due to COVID, the online input is crucial so residents’ voices are heard.
Learn more about Blueprint Irondate via their website and on Facebook.
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