Jerome Township is exploring ways to update the township’s comprehensive plan.
During Tuesday’s Trustees Meeting, Zoning Inspector Eric Snowden discussed potential options.
He said the zoning commission has aimed for the past several years to revise the comprehensive plan.
Snowden said plans should be updated every eight to 10 years, meaning Jerome Township’s 2008 plan is in need of revision.
However, Snowden said they first need to determine the most financially responsible way to move forward.
“We’re riding that line of, ‘What do we do now?’” Snowden said.
He said the township could work with the LUC (Logan-Union-Champaign) Regional Planning Commission to complete a township comprehensive plan.
Since Jerome Township is a member of LUC, Snowden said this would be the most cost-effective option.
But, while it would save money, Snowden said LUC is already working on other comprehensive plans for the next several years. He said the earliest LUC could begin work on Jerome Township’s would be 2022.
“We need to move forward with something, but if we wait a couple years, we have a regional planning commission that will do it for basically no cost,” Snowden said.
He compared the potential cost savings to what was spent on the current comprehensive plan.
According to former Trustee Ron Rhodes, who was on the board during its completion, Snowden said the 2008 plan costed more than $100,000.
Even so, Snowden said he is currently working on a request for quotations (RFQ) to solicit consultants for the project.
He said he anticipates costs being even higher than they were in 2008, so responses to the RFQ may control the path of the project.
“If we put out the RFQ and they come back with a number we can’t swallow, maybe then we decide to wait for LUC,” Snowden said.
Snowden said he will continue to meet with the zoning commission to explore options and will report back to trustees as concrete plans are made.
“We need to be strategic with this – we can’t just do it all now,” he said.
Regardless of how the project moves forward, trustees asked that the public be involved.
Trustee Megan Sloat asked Snowden to create a means for resident feedback throughout the process. She suggested holding several resident focus groups to gauge what the community wants to see in the future.
Snowden agreed with Sloat and said there will be “robust public involvement,” whether LUC or another consultant revises the comprehensive plan.
“If you don’t have buy-in (from residents), that plan just sits on the shelf,” Snowden said.
In other business:
– Fire Chief Douglas Stewart updated trustees regarding the 3.5 mill fire levy on the March ballot.
Following the failure of a 5.5 mill fire levy on the November 2019 ballot, Stewart said the fire department has been gathering resident feedback in hopes the March levy will pass.
He said many residents who voted against the November levy told him they felt it was “too much, too soon.”
In response, if the 3.5 mill levy passes, Stewart asked trustees to agree to pass a resolution that would stop collection on the 1991 2.3 mill, continuous levy.
He said it is only collecting at about 0.6 mill right now, but would reduce the financial burden of residents by about $18 per year for every $100,000 of valuation.
That would drop the total cost of levies to about $90 per year for every $100,000 of valuation.
Stewart said the $1.4 million collected from the 3.5 mill levy would be enough to sustain operations for about five years and continue to fund the new positions created by the SAFER grant.
“This will really allow us to be financial managers and planners moving forward,” Stewart said.
– Trustees heard from Kyle Russell, who recently completed his Eagle Scout project in the township.
His project consisted of cleaning the gravestones in the township cemetery, adding a directory of veterans’ burial locations and adding a 20-foot flag pole with solar lighting.
He also presented Jerome Township with a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol from Senator Sherrod Brown, who was also an Eagle Scout.
Sloat thanked Russell and his family for the work he completed, calling it “a tremendous gift” to the community.