Meeting notes: June 17, 2009

Last night's meeting of the Waitsfield Planning Commission featured some special guest stars: Brian Shupe (former planning commissioner, current member of the Waitsfield Development Review Board), Joshua Schwartz (Mad River Valley Planning District Director), and Brandi Saxton (of PlaceSense, the consulting group that was recently hired to help us navigate the process of the 2010 town plan).

Brian was on hand to provide some perspective on the writing of the last plan, as he was a planning commissioner at the time. He also provided some general background on planning in the Mad River Valley, displaying some remarkable recall for historical events (PC: "I didn't realize you were a planning commissioner in the 1800s." Brian: "I was younger then.")

But the main progress of the night was made in the area of the upcoming town plan, which is slated to be completed by spring 2010. The group took its first stab at setting the stage for the new effort by brainstorming topics in the valley that have emerged since 2005 (aka, the era of the last Town Plan) ... trends like peak oil and localvore growth as well as specific issues such as wastewater treatment and the Irasville growth center.

We took those topics and began to shape questions around them: questions that would be asked on the upcoming Town Survey (slated for September, 2009). What the survey will look like, exactly, I can't say. But it does seem clear that the PC will ask a series of basic demographic questions (to better understand our community) as well as a batch of "attitude" questions (to better gauge what our community desires from a plan).

Even though PC members are arguably the only people in the Valley who've actually read the current Town Plan from start to finish, we decided that it would be wise to re-read the 160 page document with an eye on how a new plan should look. So, we divided up the current Town Plan among the planning commissioners ... assigning two to each section ... requiring them to go back and review what had been said before, what had been recommended before, and what had actually been done. All the commissioners will review the Land Use section, however, as its likely to require the most involvement.

Don't be shy. Take a stab at the current plan yourself and let us know what you think. (FYI ... Every section has an intro, followed by GOALS then POLICIES then TASKS. While the intro is interesting, where the rubber meets the roads is in the POLICIES section. Good Luck!)