The City of Homestead is undertaking steps to develop its first-ever strategic development plan, following a major push from City Manager Zerry Ihekwaba.
“It was part of the vision and mission statement to have a clear concept of what are we looking at for the future. What exactly are we looking to accomplish?” asked Dr. Ihekwaba.
“Upon my assumption of office, I realized the city has never had a strategic plan. There is a collection of folks in our community that have never thought to participate in a strategic plan as a roadmap to the future,” he said.
Dr. Ihekwaba stressed the importance of a strategic plan, emphasizing that “it’s actually the foundation of building for other things.”
“This is my personal initiative, as the city’s chief administrative officer. I needed to have a roadmap of the future,” he said. With this plan, he said, he can combine the interests of both the city’s elected leadership and the general public.
The project began in February, he said, with initial drafting and sourcing feedback from residents. In April, the city expects to host several community forums to allow residents to provide feedback, commentary and criticism.
Residents are also encouraged to provide feedback on the city’s website, he said. After all the feedback has been collected by June, he said, the initial plan will be completed and released in July, concurrent with the city’s budget for the next fiscal year.
“We have to get involved, creating and sharing and communicating the vision: what do you want to see the city become in the next five years?” he said.
Dr. Ihekwaba stressed the importance of the community being well-informed in the matter, as well as “proving transparency in the process, ensuring the process is transparent in measure of profits and outcomes,” and that people provide direct input as to what they would like to see for Homestead.
“People have a direct connection,” said Dr. Ihekwaba.
“The success of this plan depends heavily on input from everyone,” he said, “us as city officials, the community stakeholders, and among the community stakeholders … major employers are keyed in. We have Baptist Hospital, we have Miami Dade College, we have Leon Medical, BJ’s, Walmart … everyone, we need their input.”
The city has contracted for the work of several consultants, including BerryDunn and AECOM, to examine and develop ways to improve significant aspects of Homestead’s infrastructure, such as water and sewage, and transportation, designing a holistic approach to re-examine these systems from the ground up.
Dr. Ihekwaba also discussed the use of the Internet and other new technology to make it easier to conduct business with the city.
Once the strategic development plan is completed, he said, the City of Homestead will begin to act immediately on this new wave of development, aiming to complete this initial plan within five years, though Dr. Ihekwaba emphasized that the plan would exist as a living document that is subject to change.
At this current stage, he said he encourages Homestead residents and stakeholders to visit www.homesteadfl.gov/697/Strategic-Plan for all available information and for the chance to provide feedback.
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