Have something to say about the future of Jasper? We’re all ears
By Mary Elizabeth Burgess AICP
City of Jasper Planning & Development Director
The city of Jasper is starting our Comprehensive Planning journey. The Comprehensive Plan is a map of how we see the city progressing out to 2045.
However, many of us on #TeamJasper do not have some of the experiences that each of you may have that makes Jasper unique. That is why we need your help.
A Comprehensive Plan is only as good as the input we receive from our residents. This plan will dive into the depths of the city’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in areas such as economic development, transportation, community facilities and services, land use, housing, capital improvements and impact fees.
It may not be widely known that this plan is the basis for a large majority of grant opportunities for both state and federal funding that is currently not available to us at the present time.
Did you know that these options are not available to us without a Comprehensive Plan? Opportunities for funding water and sewer projects; road and sidewalk design and maintenance; parks and playgrounds along with opportunities to direct development in a pattern that is reasonable and desirable to our residents would also be possible due to this plan.
This plan will also afford us the opportunity to attract commercial development to compliment some of our already established developments and to work with our unique land characteristics instead of against. As a planner with over 20 years of experience, my career is based on helping communities develop in a healthy and sustainable manner through endeavors such as these plans.
I have witnessed how they have been developed to support our small business community and downtown development. It is my hope that if you’ve read this far, maybe you’ll commit a few more minutes to help us by capturing the QR code below and taking our community survey.
To learn more about our comprehensive planning efforts, please visit our developing website at www.Jasper2045.com. There’s an opportunity to sign up for email notifications for upcoming meetings and, by providing your contact information, you’ll be entered into a raffle for locally procured prizes.
In addition to the community survey, we’ll be sending a stakeholder survey to all 668 of our current business license holders for an opportunity to discuss our business communities’ needs and win a 2026 free business license renewal. Please keep an ear out for our upcoming community meeting at 6 p.m. on September 11th at City Hall and look for us at the August 9th Downtown Live and other community events.
Please remember that our plan is only as good as the input we receive, so please spread the word to anyone you know lives, works, or regularly visits the city of Jasper.
A prosperous path forward for the city of Jasper is only as good as the input we receive.
