A new comprehensive plan for the City of Vicksburg will be ready for public review in early 2013, according to a planner with the Central Mississippi Planning and Development District.

“Work is under way,” said planner William Peacock. “I’m in the information gathering stage — getting information on land use, population, public facilities for the city, and putting it together. It should be ready by the first quarter of next year.”

A comprehensive plan helps determine a community’s plans for future development. It addresses such issues as transportation, utilities, land use, recreation and housing.

“The plan helps with long-range planning and looks at what we expect to see in the next 20 years with population and employment,” Peacock said. “You look at how the future will affect land use, residential and business, and zoning regulations for the city so it can adjust for the changes.”

“Usually the comprehensive plan is reviewed and updated every five years,” said city director of buildings and inspections Victor Gray-Lewis. “The last new plan was in 1996.”

He said city officials last reviewed Vicksburg’s comprehensive plan in 2008, when the city began looking to develop a new plan.

“We made a draft in 2008, and we’re working off that to develop the new plan,” Gray-Lewis said.

“This will provide us with a guide we can use as the city moves into the future and we deal with changes in growth,” he said.