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Members of the Bainbridge community met in the City Council chambers on Thursday evening for the final public comprehensive plan meeting. Before the meeting began, Bainbridge Middle School students came forward to present their own West Bainbridge community development projects, which they had been working on during the previous semester. Students in 6th grade focused their proposals on recreation, 7th grade on housing, and 8th grade on business.

“The students and teachers have worked tirelessly on this for the last several months,” said Brandi Deal, QUEST/gifted student coordinator. “The initiative started actually last May, when we had Mr. O’Neil and his staff come to Bainbridge Middle School and do a presentation, along with Robert & Company, and they explained to the students what all goes into developing a community.”

The 6th-grade student presentation suggested recreational ideas, namely a water park; the 7th-grade housing presentation focused on the need for revitalization, with proposed solutions including smaller homes, apartments and single-family houses; and the 8th-grade business presentation suggested a multi-purpose retail center. Each presentation went into details such as cost estimates and community benefits.

After the school presentations had finished, John Ford with Robert & Company, the consulting firm that has been working on the comprehensive plan, began the meeting proper. He presented a summary of goals and accomplishments from the city’s previous comprehensive plan, from 2019 to 2024. These accomplishments included improvements to the Boat Basin, the expansion of the city’s fiber network, the establishment of an opportunity/enterprise zone in East Bainbridge, and the addition of the disc golf course, to name a few.

Following this, those in attendance at the meeting were split into two groups, one for discussing place-making and one to discuss economic development.

Short-term projects for placemaking (from 2025 to 2030) include: continuing to review and implement the Downtown Development Authority work program; creating a small area plan for the revitalization of West Bainbridge; adopting a North Broad Street overlay district; and TSPLOST renewal in 2027, to name just a few.

A few of the projects for economic development, as well as public safety, public utilities and wastewater, include identifying and filling illumination gaps; building a new Public Safety complex downtown; upgrading the sanitation equipment for solid waste pick-up; and expanding the wastewater plant.

While this was the last public input meeting, there will be a final public comment session when the plan is presented to the city council at a regularly scheduled council meeting. The plan will be presented to the planning commission, according to Community Development Director Steve O’Neil, in either March or April.

Citizens can find the presentation materials and documents from previous meetings online at https://www.bainbridgetomorrow.com/