WARREN — Officials will have until early June to make suggestions or changes to the final sections of a comprehensive plan for the city, which is being worked on by the Trumbull County Planning Commission.

More than 25 people, including city council members, city officials and residents attended an informational presentation Tuesday by county planning commission personnel, who showed a draft of the final comprehensive plan.

Mayor Doug Franklin said officials will review the completed draft proposal sections and make comments for amendments.

“This is long overdue. The city’s comprehensive plan has not been updated since the 1960s. This is a great opportunity to soon be implementing this plan,” Franklin said.

Julie Green, director of the planning commission, said the comments will need to be received by June 3.

HELD UP BY COVID-19

Nicholas Coggins, assistant director of the planning commission, said the plan was started in 2016 but was put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and then picked up again in 2021. He said community surveys went out in 2017 and 2018, and 1,000 people responded to help put the plan together.

“It helped show us what people wanted to see as the community moves forward,” Coggins said.

Coggins said one section of the plan has goals and recommendations that include focusing on modernizing and maintaining infrastructure, such as roads and sidewalks; revitalizing downtown; attracting, retaining and fostering businesses, youth outreach and development; and addressing underserved areas.

“The city will look at ways to tackle implementations. The survey helped us come up with these different categories,” Coggins said.

The plan includes sections of maps, charts and text focusing on available land, potential zoning and annexation areas, and future land use. Areas targeted for funding included the Golden Triangle, an area shared with Howland Township that is a manufacturing-centered location.

T.J. Keiran, environmental coordinator / GIS specialist with the planning commission, said the zoning areas — such as tax incentive zones — could be marketed for potential business development. Other locations would be community reinvestment areas.

Keiran said the city could consider rezoning 15 areas named in the plan.

Coggins said the plan will be helpful for future development of the city.

“It can be looked at on a regular basis,” he said.

According to Green, surveys showed the public is concerned about road and sidewalk improvements and public transportation.

“The city will be the entity to decide when to begin implementing the completed plan. There can be short-, mid- or long-term goals set,” Green said.

The surveys also showed interest in community activities at parks and getting youth involved, Coggins said.

Green said the plan will be ready for use once council gives its official approval after any updates or changes are made.

The draft plan is available on the city’s website under the heading “planning and engineering.”

Council President John Brown asked if residents could be trained to use the GIS mapping tools so they can go through the sections of the plan that appear online.