Riverside adopts Master Plan

"Riverside citizens wish to maintain the serene, quiet atmosphere of a small town. The town will strive to foster their strong sense of community, remain safe and affordable and ensure access to recreational amenities, while encouraging quality, well-managed growth and economic prosperity," the newly adopted Master Plan for the Town of Riverside begins.

The Riverside Town Council formally adopted the 2010 document at their regular meeting on Oct. 8.

The document itself states goals, policies and proposed actions for the town to achieve their vision. Within the master plan, goals are broad statements of values or aspirations of the town. Policies sections are meant to provide more precise directions and guidelines for the actions of staff, developers and policy makers. The proposed actions are specific tasks or processes used to implement policies and achieve goals.

The master plan is broken down into an introduction with historical and administrative sections, plan elements and maps and appendixes with the surveys and other information used in the master plan process. The plan elements include: land use and growth of the town, image and design, economic development, natural resources and environment, housing and public services/infrastructure/transportation.

General themes that can be observed in the master plan are that citizens want to keep the town small, with a uniqueness based on the natural environment of the area.

While the plan calls for a variety of types of development in Riverside the first goal of the land use and growth section states, "Encourage a reasonable pace of growth with the intent to keep the rural, small-town community character of Riverside."

One of the goals of the image and design section is to address blight in Riverside. The policy for this includes statements on redeveloping blighted areas, having a strong municipal code to address blighted areas and working with property owners to improve areas of town.

In regards to economic development, the master plan stresses the need for balance between economic growth and retaining the character of the town. One specific goal is to provide a vibrant main street corridor to serve as a center point of the community.

According to the master plan, "Sixty-four percent (64%) of community survey respondents indicated that the reason they live in Riverside is for the scenery/surroundings and recreational amenities, and are satisfied with the existing facilities." Based on this the goals are to preserve and promote the preservation of the natural areas in and around Riverside.

Like many areas of the Valley, Riverside is trying to have a mix of housing types from affordable units for local workers to expensive vacation homes. The study notes that an overabundance of second homes can have negative economic impacts on the town.

The maintenance of public utilities, especially water and sewer is identified as very important to citizens of Riverside in the master plan. Much of this issue has already been addressed with recent water and sewer projects, and the town now boasts one of the most advanced wastewater treatment systems in the state.

The master plan does not provide any actual municipal codes, but should help future town councils to carry forward with managing the town in a way that its citizens are happy with.