This past week we received the official population estimate for Holiday Island based on the 2020 census. Holiday Island now has an official population of 2399 residents that consider Holiday Island to be their permanent residence. We also have many part time or seasonal residents that maintain another home as their permanent address. However, they do not count in the population totals. This is a 6.2% increase from our previous official population which is important since tax revenue received from the State is based on population. But many other cities have grown also. So, we will have to wait and see as to the actual impact on revenue. Our revenue will increase only to the extent that we are now a larger percentage of the population of all cities or the County. We had preliminary numbers earlier that indicated we had grown. But the number is now official and has been given to the State Treasurer.
In other news, the city council this month passed Ordinance 2021-010 adopting a planning area map for the city. Cities of the 2nd class are allowed to extend their planning area up to one mile beyond the city boundaries. This is typically done so that the city can be involved in any development within that area like road construction or housing developments in case the city would some day be requested to annex it. This is also the first step in allowing Holiday Island to pass zoning ordinances. We will also need to create a master street map showing which streets (roads in most cases here) are main arteries and which are secondary arteries, collector streets, and low density residential roads. The street map is necessary for planning such things as road specifications, resurfacing priorities, snow removal and traffic ordinances. The final map will be the zoning map indicating locations for residential, commercial and industrial activities. The zoning map is probably the most important relative to establishing building codes and other code enforcement. We would expect to be able to start passing some of those ordinances in October.
Next up for the city council relative to priorities:
· Master street map, master zoning map
· Passing a building code ordinance
· Passing a health and sanitation ordinance dealing with condition of property
· Preliminary budget workshop