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LANETT — The Lanett City Council is working on updating the city’s current comprehensive plan. Alabama cities are encouraged to have an updated plan every 10 years. Lanett’s current one was adopted in 2012. A new one is due, and the East Alabama Regional Planning & Development Commission, Anniston, is advising the city on the process.

At a work session on Tuesday evening of this week, Deputy Director Frank Humber and Regional Planner Rajiv Myana were there to offer advice on completing the plan.

Through planning, a city can shape its growth and development. Effective planning ensures that future development will occur where, when and how the community and local government wants.

A new comprehensive plan lists the goals and objectives of the previous plan and addresses proposed revisions in the new plan.

“It’s a guide where the city can grow retail-wise,” Myana said. “It’s a blueprint for the city’s future and a marketing tool for the community. New businesses that are located in Lanett will receive utilities from the city. That’s how the city can generate more revenue.”

The ideal site for future development in Lanett is the Lanett Mill site. It’s an undeveloped 25-acre site just off a very busy stretch of Highway 29. A needed step in transitioning this site for future use is to have a Brownfields assessment done. Federal grants are available to fund such projects, and the Chambers County Development Authority (CCDA) is working on getting a grant for this site.

CCDA Executive Director Valerie Gray was present at the meeting and said that a Brownfields project is a means of getting the EPA’s seal of approval that a given site is ideal for redevelopment.

A Brownfields assessment is a means of assuring a potential developer that a site they are considering is not contaminated by past industrial activity on the site.

Council Member Tony Malone asked Myana to discuss the development of greenspace in the city. Earlier this summer, Humber and Myana were shown a potential site for a linear park alongside the Chattahoochee River between Lanett and West Point. The historic Reed Pecan Grove is on the site, but there is some dense undergrowth beneath it. 

“Nothing happens overnight,’ Myana said. “but it is possible to have a riverside park between the two cities.”

A developed site could include walking trails, picnic areas and boat ramp access.

Making the site of interest is the fact that two states, three counties and two cities meet here.

Present at the work session were members of the city’s planning committee and board of zoning and adjustments.

Myana said the EARPDC provides training for them if needed.

Mayor Jamie Heard thanked Myana and Humber for offering their input at the Tuesday meeting.

The East Alabama Regional Planning & Development Commission serves a 10-county region in east central Alabama. The area includes Chambers, Tallapoosa, Coosa, Randolph, Clay, Talladega, Cleburne, Calhoun, Cherokee and Etowah counties.