Complete Community principles aim to meet the diverse needs of the community’s residents. Similar to Smart Growth, it promotes community densification to shorten the distance of services and avoid urban sprawl. Mixed land use is a key aspect of Complete Community principles. This approach includes employment areas and local amenities/services in close proximity to residential zones. Complete Community planning principles include providing a variety of transportation options to enable residents to access all the required services within the community. A Complete Community Policy requires that essential services are locally available to support the residents rather than requiring residents to travel to other communities for services and employment.
This plan and assessment gives a more concrete way for the City to measure it’s progress towards becoming a “Complete Community”. The process involved an extensive data gathering phase and assessment of the conditions of our transportation network. This allowed us to make a custom walk score based on community input and values, as well as best practices, local conditions, and accessibility. The assessment also looked at the transportation network through the lens of infrastructure, housing, and community amenities. This plan and decision-making tool will help the City make more informed decisions around land-use and asset management going forward.