Northport Hosts First Installment Of Comprehensive Master Plan Community Meetings

NORTHPORT, AL — The City of Northport on Monday saw a pretty strong turnout for the first in a series of "Visioning" meetings geared toward gathering community input for the city's comprehensive master plan.

Click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter and breaking news alerts.

The master plan is being developed by KPS Consulting, which led the meeting Monday night and provided those in attendance with a wealth of data and contextual information about the city in looking at what the city's residents would like to see in the future.

Monday's meeting primarily served as an introduction as the city fine-tunes the 2022 comprehensive master plan, which was last updated in 2006. Participants were presented general demographic information and broken up into small groups to discuss their likes and dislikes about the city's offerings.

Before offering up an RFP last September for firms to aid in the concept, the city pointed out that many smaller area plans have been conducted over the years, but not a comprehensive, city-wide approach.

As KPS Consulting pointed out, Northport has experienced unprecedented growth over the last decade, with its population increasing roughly 33%.

The city hopes the comprehensive master plan in the works will help identify housing needs of a wide variety of family households, while understanding that adequate housing could become a key component in the recruitment and retention of major employers and businesses interested in locating in Northport.

KPS Consulting will now be responsible for the following tasks:

• Existing housing analysis
• Existing infrastructure analysis
• Existing transportation analysis
• Baseline data collection (I.E. crime statistics, undeveloped property, land conditions, etc.)
• Initial stakeholder involvement (KPS must host at least eight community meetings)
• Comprehensive five-year affordable housing study
• Project communications and stakeholder involvement
• Integration of existing studies and plans (such as pedestrian and recreation master plans)
• Master street plan
• Analysis of future growth areas
• Water & Sewer extension plan
• Annexation plan
• Future land use plan
• Analysis of downtown core districts
• Public facility plan
• City code updates
• Updated subdivision regulations

Here's a look at the schedule for updating community interest meetings that will be held at Northport City Hall in the coming months. All of the meetings are open to the public and will likely be held at 5:30 p.m. on each day unless otherwise noted.

Feb. 27 - Development strategy meeting.

March 27 - Land us and transportation

May 22 - Downtown and riverfront

June 26 - Public facilities and parks

July 24 - Open house

October TBA - Zoning ordinances

February 2024 - Subdivision regulations.

Click here to participate in Northport's visioning survey to provide your feedback.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.