Virtual workshop is next step in year-long process
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Planning professionals, Town of Highlands staff, and members of the public gathered for a comprehensive planning forum on Thursday, Oct. 22 at the Highlands Community Building. There will be a virtual planning workshop at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5 via Zoom.
Sticky notes covered a number of posters and a giant map of Highlands inside the community building on Oct. 22.
Multi-colored ideas for where town infrastructure can be improved, where new needs can be met and new wants can be constructed were placed by citizens participating in the town’s comprehensive planning process.
The idea is to gain a wide view of where Highlands is as a community and where the town is going over the next five, 10 and 20 years.
“Over the past few days we have been hosting stakeholder meetings and community events to hear the concerns of the public in Highlands,” planning project manager Jake Petrosky, of Stewart Inc., said. “In order to develop a community comprehensive plan you need to hear from the people who live and work in Highlands. We have had a variety of topics brought to our attention, which is a good thing.”
During the in-person community planning forum, citizens were asked to share their thoughts on topics such as public works, recreation, public safety, economic development, housing and transportation.
Anyone who was not able to attend the event at the community building on Oct. 22 is encouraged to participate in a virtual workshop tonight (Nov. 5) via Zoom from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Full details about the virtual workshop can be found online at www.highlandscommunityplan.com.
There is also a survey online at www.highlandscommunityplan/get-involved. Completing that survey and analyzing the responses is the next step in the planning process.
“A comprehensive plan is something that the Town of Highlands needs to have as we look at where we’re headed as a municipality,” town planner Michael Mathis said. “Right now we are in the information-gathering phase and our group of consultants are putting a lot of work in to ensure that we get accurate and up-to-date information before we get into the actual writing of the plan.”
The goal is to have the comprehensive plan written and submitted for town board approval during the summer of 2021.