The city of Paducah and McCracken County are planning for their future. The local government joined together to establish a city/county comprehensive plan.
PADUCAH, Ky. (WSIL)-- The city of Paducah and McCracken County are planning for their future.聽The local government joined together to establish a city/county comprehensive plan.
On Tuesday night, Paducah city officials adopted their comprehensive plan. They have been working on it with McCracken County since 2023. Paducah鈥檚 Mayor George Bray says the plans are a requirement by the state of Kentucky every five years.
鈥淲e both thought it was important enough because our community is so tied together that we really needed to do it together. And so it turned out to be the right thing to do,鈥� Mayor Bray said.
Paducah鈥檚 mayor says the comprehensive plan is like a guide to help lead them to how they envision the city and McCracken County鈥檚 growth.
鈥淭his is what we think will happen over the next five years and possibly in the next 10, 15, or 20; these are the things that we really need to do in order to accomplish that,鈥� Bray says. 鈥淲e're not going to be able to accomplish every single thing that we put in there. But again, directionally these are things that we can work on, focus on, and hope to achieve in order to accomplish our long-term goals.鈥�
The plan has six themes they want to focus on, including improving infrastructure and growing the population and housing.
鈥淗ousing is a nationwide crisis. It's certainly a crisis all over the state of Kentucky and certainly in Paducah and McCracken County. So it's clear that the future of our community depends upon the right housing choices,鈥� Bray said.
Mayor Bray says they have taken a lot of public input from people with surveys and public forums. Maria McReynolds has grown up in Paducah and says infrastructure and the arts are important to the city's growth.
鈥淚 think it's awesome, and I think Paducah has a lot of potential. So to see it grow like that would be awesome,鈥� McReynolds said.
Bray says with the input they received, they are working together to help drive the community forward as one community.
鈥淪o when we make decisions, we check in with the comprehensive plan to make sure that our decision-making processes are aligned with it,鈥� Bray said.
Bray says county officials could approve the plan at an upcoming meeting in February.聽
