What's in Decatur's Next Growth Plan?

Decatur’s next growth plan is starting to take shape.

The City of Decatur has already posted about two of the biggest items on the June 15 City Council agenda: a new Comprehensive Plan and an update to the city’s zoning ordinance.

Those are important on their own. They also sit next to several other development signals: more water-capacity planning, a follow-on Fuyao land step, and another round of city-backed demolition work.

Decatur’s current Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2009, and the new plan is meant to establish a shared vision for future growth, redevelopment, economic development, infrastructure investment, and neighborhood revitalization over the next decade.

The city wants to update that plan because Decatur has changed since then, including shifts in housing, economic development, transportation, demographics, and community priorities.

That matters because a Comprehensive Plan is the city’s long-range guide. It does not approve a building by itself. But it can shape future decisions around land use, redevelopment, housing, infrastructure, neighborhoods, and capital investment.

The planning work is expected to include existing conditions analysis, public engagement, goals and priorities, and implementation strategies. The resulting plan is expected to guide city decision-making over the next 10 years.

The useful point is simple: Decatur is not only reacting to individual projects. It is starting a broader planning process that could shape how future projects are reviewed, prioritized, and supported.

Decatur is also considering an agreement with McKenna Associates for a Unified Development Ordinance, which would update the rules that guide land use and development review.

Decatur’s zoning ordinance was last comprehensively updated in 2002. The new ordinance would modernize and combine zoning, subdivision, and development regulations into one document.

The agreement includes a total authorized amount not to exceed $133,540.

This is one of the more important items to watch because development rules affect what can be built, how review works, and how closely the city’s regulations match its growth goals.

The Comprehensive Plan is the vision document. The Unified Development Ordinance is one of the tools that can help carry it out.

The city is considering a $722,000 professional services agreement with Burns & McDonnell for a South Water Treatment Plant expansion plan.

The South Water Treatment Plant’s maximum day capacity is 36 million gallons per day, expandable to 54 million gallons per day. In 2025, maximum day production was about 24 million gallons per day, leaving about 12 million gallons per day of additional maximum-day capacity for future growth.

The key point is that anticipated development over the next 5 to 10 years could add 9 to 12 million gallons per day of demand.

That makes water capacity a development issue, not just a utility issue.

If Decatur wants to support larger industrial or commercial users, the city has to keep planning ahead on treatment capacity, security, efficiency, and reliability. The expansion plan is not construction. It is preliminary engineering and analysis for what may be needed next.

A separate item would authorize an agreement with INTERA for an Alternative Water Supplies Update, with a fee not to exceed $197,446.

The city says it has one of the stronger water supply portfolios in the region, but Decatur’s economy is water-dependent. Drought planning matters differently here than it might in a city with less industrial water demand.

City staff point to several reasons for an update: better information on existing supplies, new supply options, and likely higher demand due to development.

It also names two specific pieces of context:

The update is expected to revisit demand projections, model how additional demand would affect Lake Decatur, review alternative water supply options, evaluate selected alternatives, and update the city’s drought action plan.

This is part of the foundation for future growth.

WAND reported May 14 that Fuyao Glass announced a proposal that could create more than 200 additional jobs and build a duplicate facility next to the current Mt. Zion plant, pending federal approval. The Herald & Review also covered the proposal May 15, including the local economic-development context around the announcement.

The new council item is narrower. It is an ordinance adding territory to the Decatur-Macon County Enterprise Zone for Fuyao Development.

The proposed addition lists three parcels:

Together, that is almost 150 acres proposed for addition.

Enterprise Zone status can affect incentives for qualifying investment. The proposal does not, by itself, describe a full project timeline or construction plan. But it appears to be a follow-on land and incentive step after the expansion proposal that has already been reported.

That makes this worth watching for a different reason. The headline news is already out. The local development question is what comes next: boundary changes, agreements, permits, infrastructure needs, or visible site activity.

Four demolition agreements also moved forward.

The properties were:

The combined listed amount is $124,705.

City staff says these four properties were bid along with nine other structures. These four crossed the threshold requiring council approval.

As always, demolition needs careful reading. It can be code enforcement, cleanup, site preparation, or part of a longer property cycle. It does not automatically mean a replacement project is ready.

Still, it is part of Decatur’s development pattern. Alongside permits for remodels, roofs, solar, HVAC work, and commercial buildouts, the city is continuing to remove structures it has identified for demolition.

This update is less about one headline project and more about the groundwork behind future growth.

The Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance point to the rules and priorities that could guide future investment. The South Water Treatment Plant and alternative water supply items point to the infrastructure needed to support that investment. The Fuyao Enterprise Zone item is another industrial land signal. The demolition approvals show that property cleanup is still part of the work.

The city has already explained the Comp Plan and zoning update at a high level. The added value here is seeing those planning items alongside water capacity, industrial land, and demolition activity.

None of these are the same as a building permit, but they help explain what may show up in future permit reports.

Read the breakdown here →

The next full Decatur Development Update will return to the monthly permit data once the next permit report is available.

Until next time,
Jason Ferguson