BETTENDORF, Iowa — After months of gathering feedback, the city of Bettendorf has a better eye on growth.
Planners have completed a new comprehensive land use plan. The plan does not outline specific projects or funding, but looks at trends and statistics, and guides the zoning board on future development.
"We're a really fast growing community, having a lot of development, having a lot of new residents and a need to look at where we want might want to grow in the future," community development director Mark Hunt said.
The land use plan is usually updated every 10 years, but the city decided to update it within 5 years due to rapid growth, with Bettendorf's population nearing 40,000.
The city presented its plans at a Nov. 20 open house at the Waterfront Convention Center, still listening to residents on what's important.
"The revitalization of the downtown area, which is close to where I live and seeing how they're going to develop that over the next couple of years," resident Patrick Larkin said. "Bringing more commercial space into the back, developing it, and making it a more vibrant area."
Planners got feedback by meeting with community organizations and through an interactive online map, where residents could pin comments on what they want. "We had a lot of input — over 2000 unique visitors as of [Nov. 20] have visited that with over 500 unique comments," senior city planner Taylor Beswick said.
The feedback created new areas of focus, like the city's public parks — especially those on the riverfront with trails and bike paths. "They'd like more of it. They'd like more connectivity. We're always looking for those opportunities, but that's part of our plan," Beswick explained.
The city is also looking at diverse housing, including space on the east end of town. "there's people that want to live in in villas or duplexes or townhomes or apartments, and we're seeing builders come to Bettendorf build those things, because they're wanted in the marketplace," Hunt said.
The team still has its eyes on commercial growth in downtown Bettendorf and around the TBK Bank Sports Complex. "Guide growth, make compatible uses and preserve people's right to their property and those different uses that are neighboring each other," Beswick said.
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