GREENFIELD — Greenfield has a new roadmap for the next 30 years.
During its June 11 meeting, Greenfield City Council approved an updated version of Greenfield’s comprehensive plan. The plan, “Greenfield in Gear: Our Roadmap to 2055,” outlines goals and objectives set to guide the development and growth of the city. The project was put together using community input from various public sessions dating back to July 2023.
The city sought help with the plan from urban planning firm Rundell Ernstberger Associates, who recently consulted with McCordsville leaders on McCordsville’s comprehensive plan update. REA was represented by director of planning Cynthia Bowen at the city council meeting, who told council members that a comprehensive plan is meant to be a framework and a guide for development and is meant to be flexible.
“This plan should be nimble. It is a guide to help you plan for your growth, but it should never be set in stone,” Wilson said.
Greenfield Mayor Guy Titus highlighted the involvement of the community in the planning process.
“This is what the citizens told us. It’s not committing to any buildings or any roads or anything, but it’s the ideas and thoughts the citizens want to see in their community in the years to come,” Titus said.
The 2020 United States Census shows Greenfield at a population of 23,488. Using a geometric projection, in which the rate of population growth is a percentage of the population at the present, the city population is expected to reach 29,958 people in 2035, reach 35,233 in 2045, and reach 41,438 in 2055. The 2055 estimate would place Greenfield at a larger population than Portage’s current population.
With the continued anticipated growth of the city comes the need for more housing. The comprehensive plan projects that Greenfield will need an additional 7,779 acres over the next three decades.
Along these lines, one of the biggest goals outlined in the plan is to create more attainable housing in Greenfield. According to the National League of Voters, “missing middle housing” refers to housing that provides options along the spectrum of affordability. These include duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes.
Some recommended actions to create more affordable housing in Greenfield include permitting duplexes and similar structures in targeted or new residential zoning districts, supporting housing designed for aging in place, and mapping out which income groups and age cohorts are currently underserved.
One of the major cruxes of the comprehensive plan is the integration of placetypes. The plan defines placetypes as a “series of development recommendations based on the desired character of new development and redevelopment. They set forth how different parts of the Planning Area should be planned, developed, and/or conserved, as well as how different land uses can be mixed together to create vibrant neighborhoods and community spaces.”
The comprehensive plan lists 10 different placetypes for the city of Greenfield, listed from less intense development to more intense development: natural areas and open space, rural reserve, estate neighborhood, suburban neighborhood, mixed residential neighborhood, neighborhood center, core neighborhood, downtown mixed-use, suburban commercial center and employment hub.
The plan also comes with a map with recommended areas (viewable in the plan; scroll to Page 51) for these placetypes. The planning area shows an expanded planning area beyond the current city limits, but the plan says there is no expectation by the city that it will grow to that entire boundary.
The map calls for employment hubs south of Main Street from County Road 200 West to Franklin Street and alongside Interstate 70, while keeping the eastern part of the city as a rural reserve. The plan also calls for recommendations for new parks on CR 200 West, on McKenzie Road, and near Morristown Pike.
The plan clarifies that the map “does not dictate when development occurs, rather it describes how development should look, feel, and function if/when it does occur.”
Alongside the map in the plan is a detailed description of each of these placetypes, including defining features, recommended land uses and preferred modes and requirements of mobility.
The plan also includes several different design concepts for different areas primed for development, such as the intersection of Opportunity Parkway and Ind. State Road 9 — just north of Interstate 70 — and alongside the Pennsy Trail downtown.
The comprehensive plan recommends the Opportunity Parkway corridor be used for commercial, retail and office space, while Pennsy Trail corridor would include “new buildings that incorporate parking structures clad with first floor retail, upper-level housing, and downtown hospitality opportunities,” with a focus toward heritage-based architecture and establishing a central public space in the area.
Wilson told council members that having a comprehensive plan could help the city get grants and other development opportunities in the future.
“A lot of, especially federal, grants will ask you if you have anything in your comprehensive plan that supports this project in moving forward. And then you can check the box and say ‘yes’ and provide this,” she said.
The comprehensive plan suggests minor plan updates every five years until 2045, with the option to do a major rewrite in 2035 and/or 2045 if needed.