New Plans for City

LAWRENCEVILLE, ILL. (WTHI) -      The massive flood that hit the Wabash Valley in 2008 is bringing some new money to one southern Illinois community.

     The city of Lawrenceville has received a $100,000 grant out of the Flood Recovery Act to develop a new strategic plan for the city.

     The community is getting ready to take a look at everything as it prepares a plan for the future.

      Lawrenceville has been around for a long time and now officials are getting ready to plan for the future.

     Thanks to a no-match grant the city preparing to produce a comprehensive plan to replace one that officials call seriously dated.
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     "We have a comprehensive plan that's dated in the 80's, so no, we don't have one, not a current one anyway," said Lawrenceville Mayor Brian Straub.

     The idea is to look at everything from transportation to parks and recreation and a lot of things in-between.

     "We're going into this eyes wide open, starting from scratch and we're going to analyze every aspect relative to our community," said Mayor Straub.

     Officials say for the most part the planning grant is open ended which means they can make plans for just about anything, but there are some specific areas the city is going to have to address.

  One of them is flood abatement and that means low areas like along Third Street will get some extra attention.

     "Since the money came from the Flood Recovery Act we have to consider and take into consideration our flood risks as well as other disaster risks," said Straub.

     Flooding in the past has hit some of the houses in the neighborhood and even affected the city's waste water treatment plant.

     That means the area will be toward the top of the worksheet when the plan gets drawn.

     A commission is in place and is expected to begin meeting after the first of the year.

     The final plan is due to be complete by January of 2014.