Twin Falls has updated its long-term strategic plan to guide growth through 2040, keeping the focus on what residents want and need as the community expands. Released in late October, the revised document carries forward the city’s approach to responsible growth while outlining priorities for its future.
The update comes after three decades in which Twin Falls has nearly doubled in population. The city has had a comprehensive long-term strategic plan in place since 2012, making responsible growth part of its mission. The latest revision extends that planning effort, with a 61-page document addressing several areas of community life.
City Manager Travis Rothweiler said the revision does not change the city’s original mission or vision. He described the goal as preserving the qualities that make Twin Falls distinctive while also creating opportunities for people who continue to arrive. That balance between maintaining the community’s character and accommodating growth remains central to the planning effort.
Among the document’s priorities is a healthy community, which Rothweiler linked to providing quality open spaces for residents. The plan also identifies a secure community, an environmental community and a prosperous community as areas of focus. Those priorities can be pursued separately or connected through projects that serve more than one purpose.
Another major focus is a learning community, with particular attention to the future of the Twin Falls Public Library. Rothweiler described the library as a place that continues to grow and change. He said the planning effort aims to build on the library’s existing strengths and carry them forward.
The planned library plaza expansion at the city park illustrates how the priorities can overlap. Rothweiler said the project brings together the plan’s learning and healthy community goals, connecting the library’s role with an outdoor space where residents already come together.
The park was the city’s first, Rothweiler said, and remains an active gathering place. Its connection with the planned library plaza expansion provides an example of how a single project can support multiple areas of the strategic plan.
Twin Falls resident Tina Downs welcomed the attention to those community spaces. She said she appreciated the city looking ahead and supported the idea of combining the library and park, describing them as priorities that matter to her.
