The Tyler City Council voted unanimously to adopt the Tyler 21 Comprehensive Plan at their meeting Nov. 14, 2007. This 20-year plan creates a strategic framework for future actions for the City and will act as a roadmap as the City continues to grow. It defines a vision for the future linked to overall goals and policies, and it contains strategies and action items for achieving the goals.
“This has truly been an unprecedented effort by the citizens, elected officials and City staff,” said Mayor Joey Seeber. “This is a plan that will guide the City for many years to come.”
The planning process took more than 18 months to complete, primarily due to the extensive public involvement involved. Resident input was sought throughout the process via a community visioning retreat (300+ attendees), six open houses and a survey of Tylerites. Focus groups, interviews with community leaders, and newsletter and website comments were also important vehicles to gather information about what was important to the residents of Tyler and how they envisioned Tyler growing to meet the needs of generations to come.
“The planning process could have been completed much quicker. However, we felt that extensive community input was crucial to developing a truly comprehensive plan,” explained Deputy City Manager Mark McDaniel.
The input gathered from the public involvement process was used to establish the vision and principles that became the framework for the nearly 500 page plan. More than 100 citizen volunteers participated on working groups to further define the key issues and strategies to address the long-term future needs of the City.
"To succeed in keeping and improving on the best of Tyler, we have to be deliberate in our planning. With this plan we can ensure that every step we take in the future is in line with what our citizens want and what our future needs will be," says Mayor Seeber.
The Tyler 21 Plan addresses issues such as downtown revitalization, historic preservation, parks and recreation, transportation, and housing and neighborhoods.