Welcome to Hastings Mural, (Dallas Nau, Central Nebraska Today)
HASTINGS — The Hastings City Council approved updates to the community’s comprehensive plan with changes focusing on future land use, new land categories, etc.
The City of Hastings had entered into a contract with Marvin Planning Consultants in April 2022 to do a complete update on the city’s Comprehensive Development Plan.
“Sometimes referred to as a master plan or general plan; the comprehensive development plan is a foundational document of long-term planning and zoning. The comprehensive development plan is both a community engagement process and a broad, long-term vision for future development and redevelopment in the community and surrounding areas and the built environment,” according to the City of Hastings.
“A comprehensive development plan is typically used to plan at a 20-year horizon. This time frame avoids the uncertainty of long-term economic and population growth patterns while avoiding short-term thinking that doesn’t provide a broad enough vision of the community,” the City of Hastings states.
The last comprehensive development plan was adopted in 2009.
The MPC staff worked with city staff and officials and sought community input through focus group meetings, town hall meetings, booths at community events and virtual engagement including online ideation tool and community surveys.
Some of the changes in the final draft that differed from the 2009 plan included the following.
The future land use planning is shown throughout the City’s extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ).
“This document continues the effort to appropriately designate the area outside the City limits but within the City’s ETJ for future developments. Areas to note include the “Flex” land use designation or highway commercial designations along highways throughout the ETJ,” per the City of Hastings.
There were also updates to the residential land uses.
“Almost all the residential land use designations were updated to provide needed density to help address the City’s affordable housing issues. Most of the urban residential designations note the ability to provide “missing middle” housing at the appropriate scale to the new or established neighborhoods,” per the City of Hastings.
The term “missing middle” was coined by Daniel Parolek, an architect with Opticos.
The “Missing Middle” is described as medium-density developments, housing that is denser than a single-family detached home but not as dense as a large, suburban apartment complex.
These developments are intended to be compatible in size and design with the surrounding neighborhood, so they do not detract from the neighborhood.
The “missing” part of the phrase refers to the fact that several neighborhoods built before the 1950s have these types of developments embedded within neighborhoods but are no longer allowed to be constructed because of current zoning regulations.
“Hastings has several of these ‘missing middle’ developments scattered throughout its older, established neighborhoods, including duplexes and triplexes, all the way up to a 12-unit apartment building originally designed to complement the surrounding neighborhood. The proposed plan sets the stage for updating the City’s zoning codes to allow these types of developments where appropriate,” the City of Hastings noted.
“The plan also significantly increases the density of the High-Density Residential land use. The intent of this land use category is for apartment complexes, typical in suburban areas,” per the City of Hastings.
A new flex land use category was created, which is intended to accommodate a flexible blend of commercial and industrial uses. These areas are typically along arterial highway corridors.
A proposed annexation policy to address future “voluntary and “unilateral” annexations.
“The proposed annexation policy addresses when to accommodate a voluntary annexation request and when to consider annexing land when the property owner(s) does not request it,” the City of Hastings stated.
The council approved the plan unanimously.
