Tim Kilduff from the Visioning Steering Group appeared before the Planning Board during their August 25 meeting to give an update to the Board. A lot of work has been done by the Group and the Group is preparing a survey that will be sent out to the community during the week of September 1. Many members of the Group were in attendance as Kilduff gave his report.
To create a vision for the community, the Visioning Steering Group has been imagining what the community could be like in ten years. A public session was also held in which 20 people participated. Although the number of attendees was small, there was a lot of good conversation, according to Kilduff. The Group has also stayed away from specific projects that would fall under the jurisdiction of the Planning Board who are tasked with creating a Master Plan for the town.
As part of the process, public input will soon be gathered. A survey has been created to send out to the community via different methods, such as through all types of social media.
According to Kilduff, “The work will be outreach, and then how do we get people to respond to the survey… We’re all prepared to put some muscle behind getting input.”
A previous survey was sent out by the town to about 1200 homes and had a 30% response rate. The Group is interested in getting a large response rate and will send the survey to various groups in town, such as the Moms Group. The Group is also interested in having High School students respond to the survey, and is working with Dr. Cathy McLeod to send the survey to students.
Deb Thomas, a Planning Board member and a member of the Visioning Steering Group stated that the Group members had taken the survey and, although some thought it was long at first, concluded that the survey was not that long. Thomas also stated that the survey would include more in-depth questions.
“We’re diving in a little bit as to… ‘If you’d like more retail, what type of retail would you like?’” said Thomas.
The survey will also include a question for what age demographic the responder is in, as Board member Claire Wright stated that younger people in town may have a different vision than the taxpayers.
Chris McClure has given his support to the Group in preparing to send the survey out, and Board Chairman Ken Weismantel stated that the Planning Board is truly supportive of the Group’s efforts.
“...We want to make the Master Plan reflect what the vision is for the community,” said Weismantel.
The goal of the Visioning Steering Group is to send the survey out to the community through all social media outlets on September 1.
To see the full meeting, click here.
