By By BEN RAYMOND LODE / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- The Niles City Council approved distribution of a new City of Niles Master Plan draft copy to surrounding jurisdictions and to the county planning commissions at Monday's city council meeting.
The new Master Plan, which is the city's first since 1955, will be a guide for the physical redevelopment of the City of Niles, said Juan Ganum, the city's community development director.
Ganum said the Master Plan deals mainly with land use issues, transportation, housing, utilities and public spaces within the city.
He and a group of dedicated volunteers from the community have spent the last nine months developing the roughly 100-page Master Plan draft.
The fact that the city's last Master Plan was adopted as far back as 1955, however, led First Ward council member Patricia Gallagher to comment on the city's new project at Monday's meeting.
She didn't seem to be the only council member that seemed to find it appropriate a new Master Plan will soon be adopted.
City Administrator Terry Eull went as far as expressing embarrassment that it has been so long since the city last had a Master Plan.
A new Master Plan will typically be adopted every 20 years to guide and steer the developmental process of the city.
The new plan, which Ganum said is obviously a major undertaking, will be updated and renewed every five years.
He said one of the aims of the plan is to promote intergovernmental cooperation.
The new plan is likely to be approved before the end of the year.
The city is having a Master Plan open house on Thursday, August 14, from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers on 16 S. Third St.
Anyone interested can stop in to see the draft future land use map for the city and chat with the consultants that have been involved in the project.
In other city council business: