“How Plans Shape Places,” a One Community Project blog series, helps us understand the practical uses of comprehensive plans. From city councilmembers to planning and zoning commissioners, Leadville and Lake County locals explain how they use the City and County’s comprehensive plan to make decisions that shape the look, feel, and function of our community places and spaces.
Before the One Community Project, I did not have the opportunity to consult the City of Leadville’s comprehensive plan in my role as Vice Chair of the Leadville Historic Preservation Commission. Part of the reason is that the City’s last plan is from 2015, so it is not current and may not reflect feelings and priorities in the community today.
This is why I look forward to the One Community Project completing a new comprehensive plan for the City and Lake County later this year. The new plan will allow me to get a better sense of the community’s attitudes toward historic preservation. I will keep the plan’s contents in mind as the Commission considers whether to expand the boundaries of the National Historic Landmark District and extend the district’s period of significance further into the 20th century.
The comprehensive plan will also be useful in helping the Commission develop design guidelines for new construction and building renovations in the historic district. Such guidelines will help ensure that infill projects bringing much needed residential and commercial space to the downtown corridor are in alignment with our history and community values.