Business View Civil and Municipal | March 2021

140 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL MARCH 2021 trails, green energy, economic development, growth strategy, and residential development. Input from the community, consultants, and local stakeholders will come together to give the municipal government a guiding document to help steer the city. Some projects had previously been put on hold and those will be part of the plan going forward. Oliphant emphasizes that the community wants to see growth done in a responsible way. He relates, “For the most part people are generally willing and wanting of some growth, certainly the comprehensive plan will help identify that. Where they want to grow, to what degree they want to grow. It’s been 20 years since we’ve had a plan done and in that time we’ve had a substantial amount of growth, more so during the first half of the life of that plan as compared to this decade, but overall there’s still been a lot of growth here. And I think there is a desire for the community to grow, but I think the big question is going to be how are we going to grow? How are we going to manage growth and do it in a way that is going to be sustainable both from a land use, as well as a financial perspective. So, it’s really a good time for us to be considering this.” Civic Art Works, a consulting firm out of suburban Chicago, is leading the creation of the comprehensive plan with a team of five other consulting firms that specialize in everything from architecture and economic development to planning and communications. The company intends to consult with community members, business owners, and all interested parties to find out more about the direction that the community sees Washington going. The municipality also uses Davis and Campbell for their legal needs and Oliphant touts them as “doing a really good job for us.” The city has three large infrastructure projects on the go right now, including working toward getting a 223-acre section of city owned property shovel-ready for development with