LYNNFIELD — The town has launched an initiative to develop a vision plan that it hopes will map out its future for the next 10-20 years.
Lynnfield 2040: Shaping Our Future Today is being spearheaded by the Planning Board and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC).
The project, which seeks to identify the town’s priorities and opportunities, is described by Planning Board Chair Brian Charville as a “mini master plan.”
Charville said the town currently has a master plan that was put in place in 2002.
“I don’t think there is a set rule about how often one is adopted, but we think it’s about time that we think about a new planning effort,” Charville said at Tuesday’s Select Board meeting. “There’s no angle to this effort other than that, and we don’t have any expectation about what the outcome will be. It’s just been enough time that we need to start thinking about a community effort to do some master planning and update what we have on the books.”
Charville said the project is “the first step toward a new comprehensive master plan [that] will be high level.”
MAPC is the regional planning agency serving the people who live and work in the 101 cities and towns of Metropolitan Boston. Its mission is to promote smart growth and regional collaboration.
MAPC Senior Planner Andrea Harris-Long said the first step is to hear from Lynnfield residents about “what they see as the vision or the future of Lynnfield in the next 10 to 20 years,” and will provide a “strategic framework for future public decision-making and investments.”
She described the process as a “fact-finding mission for us to hear from residents.”
Harris-Long said MAPC will involve extensive outreach in the community and that MAPC has already started meeting with town department heads, boards and committees, and committee volunteers, before engaging in “public-facing engagement” this summer. MAPC will also utilize community forums and intends to have a strong presence at local community events and with focus groups.
In terms of community engagement, Harris-Long said the goal is to engage a “broad range of community members to hear a variety of perspectives and ideas.”
A town-wide survey will be distributed starting in April, and an online open house is planned for July. There will be a public comment period during the months of September and October, following which the vision and goals will be finalized as early as November.
Harris-Long said MAPC will work with the Planning Board “every step of the way” and that the goal is to come up with a final vision plan that is “user-friendly, reflective of what the community wants, and is realistic.”
In addition to the Planning Board, the project team includes Director of Planning and Conservation Emilie Cademartori, Planning and Conservation Administrator Jennifer Welter, Land Use Assistant Sondria Berman and the town’s residents, who Harris-Long described as “a big part of the process.”
Select Board Chair Phil Crawford said that while the town did similar planning about 13 years ago, it fell short of a master plan. That, he said, coupled with “a whole different group of young families that have moved into town with different wants and needs,” makes this “a great idea.”
“It doesn’t just support the work we’re doing, it defines the work we’re doing,” Crawford said. “It is time for a new one; it’s time to update this.”
Board member Dick Dalton said he was on the Planning Board the last time a master plan was adopted.
“The biggest challenge was community engagement,” Dalton said. “Unless it’s a controversial Town Meeting, we don’t get the turnout.”
Harris-Long said a similar project in Wrentham got “a really good response” with approximately 1,200 to 1,400 residents responding to a survey and another 700 to 800 responding to a second survey.
“We plan to keep the survey longer, maybe six to eight weeks, to drive more people to the survey,” Harris-Long said. “We are trying to be more creative in our engagement because we know it’s really tough,” adding she hopes to have as many as 2,000 to 2,500 responses in Lynnfield.
“I would be thoroughly impressed if you got 2,500 people,” Crawford said. “That would be fantastic.”
