FORT WRIGHT - Officials want residents to help develop a five-year vision for this city of 5,681 by offering their input at one of three hearings this month.

        Officials plan to use comments from the hearings, which begin Wednesday night, to develop a five-year, long-range plan addressing seven major areas - everything from emergency services and infrastructure to community involvement.

IF YOU GO

• What: Presentation of Fort Wright Vision Committee's five-year plan   • When: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the former South Hills Civic Club on Bluegrass Avenue off East Henry Clay Avenue; 2 to 4 p.m. Sundayat the Fort Wright Civic Club on Kennedy Road off Kyles Lane; 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 13 at Devou Village Community Building on Diamond Court off Amsterdam Road.   • Format: The presentation is informal, with charts, lists and narratives describing the long-range plan available for inspection. Representatives of the city will be at the hearings to register any public comment from residents.   • Information: Contact Fort Wright Administrator Larry Klein at (859) 331-1700.

        Progress would be evaluated annually, and projects and goals for the next five years could be changed as needed in this Kenton County city.

        “The hearings will be real informal,” Fort Wright Administrator Larry Klein said. “People can wander in and wander out. There will be charts and narratives and lists, and people can register their comments.”

        Based on comments received at the three public hearings, the seven-member Fort Wright Vision Committee will meet in late August and decide if its plan “needs any final tweaking,” Mr. Klein said. “We're hoping to have it ready for presentation to council in September.”

        Creation of signature parks, similar to Presidents Park in Edgewood, and development of a comprehensive infrastructure improvement plan were the top two priorities of three citywide focus groups that met in May, Mr. Klein said.

        Members of the focus groups, who represented four of Fort Wright's five neighborhoods and typified the community in terms of factors such as age, sex and income, met with J. Michael Thomson, the director of Northern Kentucky University's masters of public administration program and the outside consultant who is helping Fort Wright develop its long-range plan.

        The focus groups were asked to rank seven statements and 28 related projects or goals developed by Fort Wright's Vision Committee, Mr. Thomson said.

        Because Mr. Thomson was the only one to meet with focus group members, they were free to “say as they felt, and no single comment could be attributed to a particular person,” he said.

        “What the citizens (in the focus groups) felt pretty much matched the vision committee's recommendations,” Mr. Thomson said.

        Besides creation of parks and improvement of streets, sidewalks, gutters and sewers, the top five proposals in Fort Wright's vision process were management of traffic flow, development of a more “walkable” community and establishment of a recreation commission.

        Other suggestions in descending order included development of a “safe community” program, beautification of the city, nurturing the city image and pride, revitalization of Dixie Highway and improvement of city/business relationships.

        Mr. Klein said city officials were “ecstatic” when the focus groups came up with a priority that the city had already begun exploring last year 1/2ndash 3/4 development of a comprehensive plan for infrastructure.

        A majority of the focus group members ranked improvement of Fort Wright streets, sidewalks, sewers and gutters as their second-highest priority and indicated that they liked the idea enough to spend new tax dollars on it.

        As a result of discussions begun last year, Fort Wright has an issue on the Novemberballot calling for a new assessment of 90 cents per $1,000 assessed property value for improvement of streets, sidewalks, curbs and gutters.

        An engineer's study recommended that Fort Wright spend $750,000 a year on infrastructure improvements.

        Currently the city spends $300,000 a year, and the tax would generate another $350,000, Mr. Klein said. The other $100,000 would come from new development in the city.

        The visioning process was the brainchild of Fort Wright Councilman Jeff Wolnitzek.

        “We used to do an annual survey in the city, but typically you only hear from 10 to 15 percent, and you're getting people to rank existing things,” Mr. Klein said.

        “With this process, we wanted (the community) to come up with ideas and projects and see where we go from there.”

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