The city of Oxford has begun the process of updating its comprehensive plan, the road map for development for the city of Oxford, and is reevaluating what needs to be changed within the structure of the city.

Updated every 10 years, the comprehensive plan is the strategic visioning document for Oxford, according to Oxford Mayor Jerome Conley.

Currently, specific plans for change in development have not been produced, according to Oxford City Councilor Alan Kyger. However, the first official meeting for the comprehensive plan update will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Oxford Courthouse. These meetings, which are open to the public, will allow discussion for change within Oxford's development.

According to Conley, the previous update served Oxford from 1996-2006. Conley said the steering committee leads the process of updating the plan, which will take a period of six to 12 months.

"I think the last comprehensive plan served the Oxford area well in the past 10 years," Conley said. "This document will help us articulate what we would like to be in the next 10-years. This is our vision for the community to make Oxford a better place to live, work and play."

This committee consists of individuals from the social service agency, the township trustee, a student representative from Associated Student Government and community members.

The move to update the comprehensive plan was heard by the city council in June 2006. The council chose ACP Visioning and Planning Ltd., who were hired to act as consultants for the city and to take the steering committee through the process of updating the plan.

Kyger said ACP Visioning and Planning is currently taking all aspects of Oxford life in account to determine what new developments need to occur. Scheduled to be discussed at the Sept. 26 meeting, the update will pertain to quality of life issues, transportation, utilities, infrastructure, zoning issues and housing for low-income residents, according to Conley.

Kyger explained that he sees this update as more of a refinement to the current plan already instilled rather than a complete overhaul of the plan.

"A lot of time and effort was put into the existing plan when it was updated 10 years ago," Kyger said. "Now there is time to look at the plan to see which things are still relevant today, and which things need to be changed."

Oxford City Councilor Dave Prows said he believes the Charter Amendment initiative, which is on the November ballot, would directly line up with the goals of the comprehensive plan update. The Charter Amendment is an initiative, if passed, which will modify the restriction on the amount of uptown apartments and businesses located uptown. Currently, there may be no more than three residential units in one building due to the charter.

"The comprehensive plan update states that it wants to allow for a more vibrant uptown, and (the Charter Amendment initiative) will allow for that," Prows said.

Kyger said he believes that one of the important areas in the update is its commitment to quality of life improvements.

"Whatever we can do to make our community a better place to attract and retain faculty members is a great step," he said. "This way the people that work and teach here will stay here."

Before the plan was started, the chamber of commerce created a similar plan called The Future of Oxford. The plan was an effort to reach out to the community so citizens could voice their desires for the aesthetics of Oxford. However, according to Kyger, the plan was not accepted by the planning commission and voted on by city council, meaning the city could not use it as a reference for development.