Staff, council brainstorm during first-ever strategic planning session

EPHRAIM—After a half-day of brainstorming about long-term goals, about 15 city council members and department heads in Ephraim settled on three focus areas for the city over next three years.
The emphases will be infrastructure development, updating the general land use plan and preparing an economic development plan.
Staff in various departments are now coming up with specific goals, and strategies for achieving the goals, in each of the three areas.
“This is our first ever strategic plan, so we’re trying to keep it simple and achievable,” City Manager Katie Witt said.
The strategic planning session on Friday, Jan. 9 started with participants writing down what they viewed as the city’s strengths and weaknesses. From there, they were asked to answer a question projected on a screen: “What would Ephraim look like and feel like in 10 years if we successfully addressed our biggest challenges and capitalized on our greatest opportunities?”
Ideas included the city retaining its “small-town feel” where residents know their neighbors, keeping open space within the city and retaining agriculture around the city.
Within the next 10 years, council members and staff foresaw a “thriving downtown;” residents not needing to leave town for any services, including a hospital, grocery store or dry cleaners. One participant envisioned an airport capable of handling larger airplanes, including passenger planes. Another called for development of a town square as a gathering place, with associated parking.
There was a lot of emphasis on services, including statements such as “everyone gets the same services, regardless of neighborhood; diversified housing; and “inspired” planning so water, power and streets keep pace with need. One participant said, “We don’t want to be in a position where builders want to build, but the roads aren’t ready.”
“I see a really strong feeling, a strong emphasis on having all the services we need,” Witt said.
Other participants talked about recreation, including an indoor recreation center with an associated playground; “diverse parks and trails;” and even “Ephraim getting its own deer (hunting) tags.”
Bryan Kimball, director of community development, said Ephraim is growing but not experiencing “exponential growth” like some Wasatch Front cities where the population has doubled in 10 years or less.
“There’s a lot of interest (in Ephraim), but actual growth, based on the census, is about 2 percent per year, a little under what we planned over the next 15 years,” he said. But he noted that growth is moving south down I-15. “I think it’s coming,” he said.
“I think we’re in a good position to manage growth,” Witt said. “Bryan and I have been talking about re-doing the general plan to better reflect resident views.”