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Implementing the Official Community Plan

Houston council has hired an interim community planner to look at regulations for zoning, land-use in Houston.
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Houston council hired John Guenther

Houston council has hired an interim community planner to look at zoning and land-use in Houston and regulations to guide development in the future.

John Guenther, Interim Planner, says the goal is to plan and draft bylaws that will guide council in implementing their Official Community Plan (OCP).

Guenther is an independent consultant who has worked on OCPs in Revelstoke, Chelan County Washington, Surprise (near Phoenix) Arizona, and in North Vancouver.

He says they will discuss things such as commercial, residential and mixed zoning, enhancing spaces with landscaping, creating inviting spaces and walking/biking corridors.

Guenther is looking at parks, trails and recreation and further development with those and things like land-use, housing, infrastructure and public safety.

Over the summer, council will work with Guenther to review and define their OCP land use goals, policies  and implementation and they will define and refine needs for zoning and subdivision.

Some of the discussion topics include regulations on chickens, c-can containers, mobile homes and secondary suites.

"I'm looking forward to starting this process," said Mayor Bill Holmberg.

Council will hold public meetings throughout the summer to get public input about the community plan, land-use and zoning, protecting sensitive areas and creating inviting public and private spaces.

The first public meeting is an open house July 25 at 7 p.m. at the council chambers. They will have a dot exercise and open ended questions from the public.

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