After months of deliberation, Homestead will be implementing its first strategic development plan following its July approval by the Homestead City Council.
According to City Manager Zerry Ihekwaba, the plan has five specific goals – increase civic engagement, improve quality of life, upgrade the city’s infrastructure, promote economic development, and streamline internal operations.
Boasting a new tagline, “The Future Lives Here,” Dr. Ihekwaba says the slogan is part of the city’s vision for its development.
“We prioritize quality of life, the hometown feel, true excellent municipal services, safety, and responsible stewardship of resources,” said Dr. Ihekwaba. “We have a rich history, vibrant presence and boundless opportunities.”
The city also established its new core values with the acronym REAL: Respect, Ethics, Accountability, and Leadership.
“We’re trying to be stylistic while conveying the message of who we are, where we’re landing ourselves and what we hope to accomplish,” said Dr. Ihekwaba.
“This is an inaugural strategic plan for the city, which is a collective blueprint that reaffirms who we are, where we are going,” he said. “The plan is more than a policy statement, it is a promise to stay focused on what matters most: a clean and welcoming city.”
Dr. Ihekwaba said the plan is meant to be a living document, helping to enhance beautification, promote neighborhood pride, and ensure the cleanliness of public spaces.
“This plan, as conceived, is the result of collaboration between elected officials, city staff, and most importantly, our community. Together, we are able to craft the strategic plan and a strategy that will be instrumental in planning for the future of our city,” he said.
The new plan will guide decision-making for budgets, long-reach planning, and community priorities, with a focus on cleanliness and beautification, as well as improvements to infrastructure, including roads, utilities and public spaces to encourage future growth, he said. Public safety and quality of life were also an important focus, with an emphasis on making Homestead a “family-friendly city.”
The plan will serve as the basis for the city’s new budget, which passed its first hearing Sept. 9.
Since the strategic plan was approved, the city has been able to implement new policies and programs, emphasizing each of the five main aspects.
On the engagement side, the city rolled out its new tagline and values, as well as launching a new digital monthly newsletter called “The Homestead Insider,” meant to share key developments throughout the city. According to Dr. Ihekwaba, the newsletter currently has 9,000 subscribers.
The city has also rolled out its “America’s 250 Birthday Initiative,” celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary with a new logo across the city’s water towers, vehicles and correspondence to mark the occasion.
In terms of quality of life, the city has focused on a new public art initiative, unveiling two new murals on the historic Seminole Theatre, light features outside of the Homestead Cybrarium, and a statue of engineer William J. Krome, the namesake of Krome Avenue in Losner Park. The Homestead Police Department has also begun developing and rolling out public safety initiatives.
Infrastructure is another critical priority, with many major developments underway – mass rehabilitation of the city’s water and sewer infrastructure, securing state funding to replace the city’s water mains and enhance bridges, and finalizing infrastructure master plans to manage growth and improvements in transportation and the water and sewer systems, as well as outlining projects and timelines to develop these systems.
The continued economic growth of Homestead is also a vital issue, as the strategic plan focuses on bringing in new investments and businesses to the historic downtown area.
According to Dr. Ihekwaba, the city has attracted a new manufacturing company from Texas to set up shop in Homestead, with other manufacturers showing interest as well. He declined to name the company until the agreement is announced. Dr. Ihekwaba credited US Rep. Carlos Giménez as being instrumental in the agreement.
South Florida mainstay Flanigan’s will be opening its first Homestead location located next to the former city hall.
Homestead will also be home to the new Sports Performance Hub, an 80-acre sports complex, complete with a 15,000-seat stadium, a 150-room hotel, and public recreation facilities. The new stadium will be home to Miami FC. Costing $300 million, the entire project is privately funded, costing taxpayers nothing, he said.
As for internal operations, Dr. Ihekwaba said that the city will launch an online permitting process in “a few weeks” to streamline and make operations and processing much easier.
The project is currently operating on a five-year timeline, aiming to achieve these goals and more by 2030.
“The goal is to reverse traffic. Instead of people waking up in the morning going north for work and for recreational opportunities, now we are hoping to reverse the trend,” said Dr. Ihekwaba.
“People will stay home here to work and enjoy and live and drive and play, and those who live in the Kendall regional area, instead of going north to Doral or to Wynwood or to Miami Beach, will be heading south to Homestead when we roll out all this.”
The post Homestead’s strategic plan sees major economic growth appeared first on Miami Today.
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