Mike Asche

The Future Forward 2025 Community-Wide Strategic Plan for Cedar Falls aims to advance the city's economic vitality, quality of life, and community well-being. Its strategic pillars focus on strengthening the business climate, enhancing retail and service amenities, developing riverfront attractions, diversifying housing options, supporting a local food co-op, improving public spaces, ensuring comprehensive wellness and healthcare, advancing technology and transportation connectivity, promoting environmental sustainability, enriching arts and culture, fostering North Cedar development, deepening university engagement, cultivating community inclusiveness, encouraging regional collaboration, and leading in education for all ages.

The Community-Wide Strategic Plan 2016, also known as Future Forward 2025, outlines Cedar Falls' vision for the year 2025. It focuses on enhancing the community's prosperity through innovation, job growth, and a diversified tax base. The plan aims to improve the quality of place by focusing on lifestyle amenities, wellness services, connectivity, sustainability, and cultural offerings. It also seeks to enhance the quality of life for its people through community engagement, inclusivity, regional collaboration, and education.

This work session focused on reviewing and discussing the proposed downtown zoning code. The session was structured into four parts to allow for thorough review. Key discussion points included the regulating plan, building standards, and the overall process for implementing and improving the zoning code. The regulating plan was described as a place-specific zoning map organized by frontages, with rules varying based on street orientation. Building form standards, building heights, placement, and uses were also discussed. The session also touched upon the reception of form-based codes in other communities and their impact on economic development.