In rewriting the plan, it is the job of the planning commission to
undertake significant public outreach to make sure the revised document
reflects the concerns and priorities of all the townspeople. The
current planning commissioners are well aware of this fact and take
their responsibilities seriously.
They plan to survey residents, conduct outreach, hold forums and gather
opinions from town residents on the important issues facing the town
today and in the future. When that process is completed, the document
is discussed at the formal public hearing level before the planning
commission and the select board. The select board can choose to adopt
the Town Plan, or has the option of bringing it to the voters for a
townwide vote. Residents can also petition for a townwide vote.
Waitsfield's planning process has resulted in a Town Plan widely held
up in the state as a model of progressive, forward-thinking planning.
Waitsfield and The Valley's long history of forward-thinking planning
and the resultant rural character of The Valley did not happen by
accident nor did they happen in a vacuum. It has been a process and it
remains a process.
That process starts with planners.
Let's let the planners do their job without micromanagement and without
polarizing or politicizing the process because to politicize the
planning process is to poison it.
LAL
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