Cedar Park launches online tool to help ‘Imagine’ the future

The city of Cedar Park has launched a new online tool that allows residents to help shape the future of the community.


ImagineCedarPark.com is an interactive, collaborative online conversation about the City’s new Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee will consider feedback from citizens as they create the city’s new comprehensive plan.

This new plan will serve as the “blueprint” for how Cedar Park will look and feel in the next 20 years. Some tangible results of the previous comprehensive plan include Cedar Park Center, the Cedar Park Recreation Center, hotels, and destination shopping-dining-family entertainment at 1890 Ranch.

With ImagineCedarPark.com, citizens will be able to engage, communicate and collaborate with city leaders, planners, and one another, to help imagine “what’s next” for Cedar Park.

Mayor Matt Powell said “Cedar Park has long been a ‘planning city’ and our new Comprehensive Plan will be the City Council’s roadmap for years to come. I encourage residents to actively participate and help us determine ‘what’s next’ for our city.”

Committee Chairman Ed Trevis said Imagine Cedar Park is about enhancing quality of life. “Imagine Cedar Park – a thriving community where businesses, residents and city planners work together to create economic infrastructure, sustainable growth and new opportunities. I can see education, progressive businesses, diverse entertainment and recreation enhancing the quality of life throughout the surrounding communities.”

Vice Chairman, and Cedar Park Chamber President Tony Moline added, “As the business community in Cedar Park continues to grow, CPAC will look at the residential wants with the business needs to create a successful model for Central Texas. We have a chance to shape our future and imagine what Cedar Park can be.”

In the coming years, Cedar Park will be completely built, with virtually no undeveloped land. This means that the CPAC must carefully strategize how Cedar Park maximizes its potential in the future. The comprehensive plan helps guide leaders’ decision-making towards sensible, responsible, and purposeful goals. The new plan will focus on land use, attracting major employers, transportation and roads, public facilities such as parks and libraries, utilities, and our overall quality of life. The comprehensive plan is a public document that will allow residents, developers, businesses and elected leaders share a unified vision and common goals when addressing the city’s growth and development. The city of Cedar Park adopted its first comprehensive plan in 1998, and updated it in 2006.

Citizen input is critical to the comprehensive planning process, and ImagineCedarPark.com gives citizens the opportunity to be more involved and engaged than ever. Similar to familiar social networking sites such as LinkedIn or Facebook, ImagineCedarPark.com serves as an interactive platform to help generate new ideas and feedback from citizens. Users will be able to share new ideas, second others’ ideas, expand upon existing ideas, and give feedback on initiatives, working with the CPAC on a variety of topics online—anytime and anywhere.

Councilman Don Tracy says that he believes that ImagineCedarPark.com will enable the city to engage a broader range of community members in the comprehensive planning process. “As a member of City Council and CPAC I think it’s extremely important for us to engage our citizens not only not only in the life of the community but also in the planning for the type of community we have asked Cedar Park to be,” Tracy said. “The imaginecedarpark.com website is a great way for everyone to give us their thoughts on the type of community we should strive to be in the future. I look forward to the comprehensive planning process and am excited to see our vision for Cedar Park develop.”

Councilman Lowell Moore shared his excitement because he says that the comprehensive planning process puts ideas into action.

“Imagine!” Moore said. “That is a powerful word representing a powerful concept. Most of us daydream about how we would like our lives to be and then set goals to achieve our dream. ImagineCedarPark.com is your opportunity to help the city of Cedar Park fulfill your dreams about life here. When the City went through a similar plan in 1998 and 2006, citizens drove the process and ideas through input. And, most of those ideas are now reality. Participate in the process and let us know your thoughts. You may have the perfect idea for Cedar Park.”

The discussion will begin with topics such as:

  • What is your vision for Cedar Park in 2035?
  • How would you prioritize transportation enhancements in our city?
  • What one thing would you do to improve Cedar Park’s economy? For example, what kinds of businesses or entertainment options would you attract to Cedar Park?

The topics of discussion will then branch off, based on input from citizens. The site also measures and tracks participation, identifying the most interested citizens and most compelling topics. ImagineCedarPark.com’s web tools make it easy for the City to have an ongoing dialogue with citizens, and gain invaluable insights for the planning process.

“As beautiful as Cedar Park is today, our future is even brighter,” Powell said. “With the help of our residents, we will imagine that future together.”