1999 Community Workshops Summary

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0 0 0 Lexington 20/20 Vision Summary of Community Workshops Held June 8-12, 1999 BACKGROUND AND METHODOLOGY To launch the public process for development of a vision and strategic plan for the Town, the 20/20 Vision Steering Committee held a series of four public workshops during the second week of June. Over 120 residents attended the four workshops; their valuable participation has provided the Steering Committee with a strong foundation for the next phases of the visioning process. Each of the workshop sessions focused on sampling the opinions and thoughts of Lexington residents on two key ingredients of strategic planning: (1) the key values shared by many residents of the Town; and (2) important issues and concerns of today that may help to shape the Lexington of tomorrow. The sessions opened with brief introductory remarks by Peter Enrich, Chair of the Board of Selectman and member of the 20/20 Vision Steering Committee, and Fernando Quezada, Chair of the 20/20 Vision Steering Committee. After a short introduction to the strategic planning and visioning process by Joe Brevard of Planners Collaborative (the Committee's planning consultant), participants broke up into small groups to discuss Values and Issues. DISCUSSION TOPICS At the beginning of the breakout sessions, group facilitators asked participants to briefly review a packet that listed the values and issues identified by 60 Lexington residents during phone interviews conducted by the consultant team. The facilitator then asked participants to think about the values and issues that were most important to them and to produce a rank -ordered list of these Key Values and Key Issues. To guide their thinking on the topic of Values, workshop attendees were asked to consider questions such as: "What do you value about your life in Lexington? and, What qualities, if missing, would diminish the essence of Lexington?" For Issues, workshop attendees were asked to respond to questions such as: "What current concerns, stresses, and opportunities come to mind when you think about the quality of life of Lexington in the future?" Facilitators then asked each person to state the values most important to him or her, and recorded each person's findings on an easel pad. After each person had voiced his or her Key Values, the facilitator initiated a discussion aimed at developing a consensus on the Key Values shared widely throughout the group. A similar listing and consensus process was held for Key Issues. At the conclusion of each session, breakout groups reported back to the larger group on their values and issues findings, degree of consensus, and areas of particular emphasis. WORKSHOP RESULTS A preliminary review of the values results suggests that the residents of Lexington overwhelmingly regard the town in highly favorable terms. Indicators of this enthusiasm are the wide range of values associated with the town by many participants, and the degree to which value responses were shared in a positive, optimistic and generally approving manner.