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Flint City Hall

(File Photo)

FLINT, MI – One by one, they stepped to the podium inside Flint City Hall on Monday, Oct. 28, – most of them to discuss the city council’s looming vote on Flint’s first master plan since 1960.

“The master plan has representation from the whole city of Flint,” Barry Williams, a steering committee member, said during the public comment period. “Everything didn’t go my way on this master plan, but I love it. I want it go forward.”

There were 16 people who spoke about the plan for more than an hour at the meeting attended by about 100.

City council voted to unanimously approve the plan. The vote was immediately followed with applause and cheers from the crowd.

The master plan is a set of policies that will direct future growth and development, create a new zoning code and that will act as a blueprint for decision making on the long-term improvement of Flint.

The Flint Planning Commission unanimously approved the plan on Oct. 22.

The “Imagine Flint” planning process was paid for with a $1.57 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2011. The project includes a citywide, comprehensive master plan, a capital improvement plan and a full zoning code revision by 2014.

There have been more than 300 meetings with 5,000 residents during the planning phase, city officials previously said.

Implementation will include updating the zoning code, creating a capital improvement plan and finishing up sub-area plans, said Megan Hunter, the city's chief planner.

Chris Del Morone said he expected the master plan would be approved.

“Between 2010 and 2020, the city of Flint will lose 20,000 residents and 8,000 households,” he said. “What will we do with an additional 8,000 homes on the market? We need to prepare ourselves.”

“It’s an excellent document,” said Jack Minore. “The adoption of this master plan was a first step, not a final step.”

Minore said he will stay after Mayor Dayne Walling and Emergency Manager Darnell Earley to ensure the plan is implemented.

“This plan can’t sit on the shelf,” Walling said. “We have to continue to work.”

Seventh Ward Councilman Dale Weighill voted in favor of the plan – it was his last vote as a member of the Flint City Council because he didn’t seek re-election.

“I want all of us to recognize that the city government, at this point, is not well positioned to implement this plan,” he said.

Dominic Adams is a reporter for MLive-Flint Journal. Contact him at dadams5@mlive.com or 810-241-8803. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.