Walton County Down the Road - Walton County Vision Plan

[SGB]

EDIT - link to online Suvey (6 questions) - please take a moment and let Walton County know what you think:
http://www.co.walton.fl.us/forms.aspx?fid=63

Anyone know anything about this committee or who is on it?


Community input could steer ‘Walton County Down the Road'
May 7, 2009 - 10:53 AM
Suzanne Preston

The future of any city in these economic times is cause for kitchen table conversation. Some may question how roads and schools will remain in good condition with shrinking tax revenue. Others may be concerned with the quality of life that community recreation provides.

Although these questions have been considered by city and county planners for decades, it’s now a topic of interest for future decades with a new Walton County committee focused on visioning for the future.

Looking forward and developing a comprehensive plan for Walton’s future will take time, according to Jason Bryan, senior planner for Walton County.

“The challenge is getting everyone to contribute ideas for how they believe the county should be in the next 10 or 20 years,” Bryan said.

Rising to meet that challenge, 15 people have committed to form Walton County Down the Road. This committee of volunteers will work to implement goals and create a strategic plan for the next 10-20 years for the county.

After two initial meetings, the committee decided on several topics to be included in town hall meetings.



•Transportation and Public Safety

•Environmental issues and Recreation

•Culture, Arts and Historical Preservation

•Economic Development

•Tourism

•Citizen Services and Communication

•Development, Land Use and Utilities

•Military Impact



The first public town hall meeting is scheduled for June 18 at the Freeport Community Center at 6 p.m.

“With three distinct economic structures within Walton County - agricultural, industrial and tourism - it’s important for citizens to come to the meetings,” Bryan said. “Each area needs to be considered to maintain a balanced community.”

That balance can be affected by many variables, according to Bryan.

“When people move here from other areas, bringing with them ideas of how their former home city was, it can cause discontent,” he said. “Bringing everyone together to share ideas, have input and establish goals can bridge differences.”

Gathering information prior to the first meeting is first on the agenda.

“Visioning created a survey,” said Bryan. “It’s available online. We hope to get every one interested in the future of Walton County to fill these out.”

The survey is available at http://www.co.walton.fl.us/forms.aspx?fid=63.

The survey includes five questions with space to provide essay style responses.

“We’re looking for as much input as possible,” he said. “This is a long term initiative. We want to see what people want to change, or not to change, concerning Walton County now and in the future.”

Suggestions and comments can also be sent to wcvision@co.walton.fl.us.

With data from the surveys and public input during the town hall meetings the committee members say they will develop programs and policies to guide them in the right direction.

“It’s one thing for us to get responses now and have good turn out for the initial meetings,” Bryan said. “We, the committee, want to have people willing to have a stake in the county’s future. It’s their home, their community and they should stay with us to see the change, the direction and help us accomplish our goals. They can keep us accountable and on track if they are in this for the long term.”

With support from the public Bryan believes a comprehensive plan could be in place within the year.

“We will hold between six and eight meetings over the next several months,” he said. “After those initial meetings, the committee will put together a strategic plan. Once that is in order there will be a few more meetings to lay down the comprehensive plan.”

That plan will include the list of things Walton County Down the Road want to accomplish, Bryan said.

The city of Destin is well into its visioning process.

On Mon, May 4 a comprehensive plan was laid out for Destin which the Destin City Council hopes to have accomplished by 2019.

“Destin is where we want to be in the next year,” Bryan said.

 

[wrobert]

Anyone know anything about this committee or who is on it?


Community input could steer ?Walton County Down the Road'
May 7, 2009 - 10:53 AM
Suzanne Preston

The future of any city in these economic times is cause for kitchen table conversation. Some may question how roads and schools will remain in good condition with shrinking tax revenue. Others may be concerned with the quality of life that community recreation provides.

Although these questions have been considered by city and county planners for decades, it?s now a topic of interest for future decades with a new Walton County committee focused on visioning for the future.

Looking forward and developing a comprehensive plan for Walton?s future will take time, according to Jason Bryan, senior planner for Walton County.

?The challenge is getting everyone to contribute ideas for how they believe the county should be in the next 10 or 20 years,? Bryan said.

Rising to meet that challenge, 15 people have committed to form Walton County Down the Road. This committee of volunteers will work to implement goals and create a strategic plan for the next 10-20 years for the county.

After two initial meetings, the committee decided on several topics to be included in town hall meetings.



?Transportation and Public Safety

?Environmental issues and Recreation

?Culture, Arts and Historical Preservation

?Economic Development

?Tourism

?Citizen Services and Communication

?Development, Land Use and Utilities

?Military Impact



The first public town hall meeting is scheduled for June 18 at the Freeport Community Center at 6 p.m.

?With three distinct economic structures within Walton County - agricultural, industrial and tourism - it?s important for citizens to come to the meetings,? Bryan said. ?Each area needs to be considered to maintain a balanced community.?

That balance can be affected by many variables, according to Bryan.

?When people move here from other areas, bringing with them ideas of how their former home city was, it can cause discontent,? he said. ?Bringing everyone together to share ideas, have input and establish goals can bridge differences.?

Gathering information prior to the first meeting is first on the agenda.

?Visioning created a survey,? said Bryan. ?It?s available online. We hope to get every one interested in the future of Walton County to fill these out.?

The survey is available at Walton County, FL - Home Page. (On the home page select ?eservices,? then select ?forms? and then ?vision plan.?)

The survey includes five questions with space to provide essay style responses.

?We?re looking for as much input as possible,? he said. ?This is a long term initiative. We want to see what people want to change, or not to change, concerning Walton County now and in the future.?

Suggestions and comments can also be sent to wcvision@co.walton.fl.us.

With data from the surveys and public input during the town hall meetings the committee members say they will develop programs and policies to guide them in the right direction.

?It?s one thing for us to get responses now and have good turn out for the initial meetings,? Bryan said. ?We, the committee, want to have people willing to have a stake in the county?s future. It?s their home, their community and they should stay with us to see the change, the direction and help us accomplish our goals. They can keep us accountable and on track if they are in this for the long term.?

With support from the public Bryan believes a comprehensive plan could be in place within the year.

?We will hold between six and eight meetings over the next several months,? he said. ?After those initial meetings, the committee will put together a strategic plan. Once that is in order there will be a few more meetings to lay down the comprehensive plan.?

That plan will include the list of things Walton County Down the Road want to accomplish, Bryan said.

The city of Destin is well into its visioning process.

On Mon, May 4 a comprehensive plan was laid out for Destin which the Destin City Council hopes to have accomplished by 2019.

?Destin is where we want to be in the next year,? Bryan said.

They have been visioning for over four years now. Go to the town hall meetings and speak up. No one hardly ever shows up at these things. I heard that only one bed tax collector showed at the workshop last night. Lots of TDC employees but only one collector.

 

[Susan Horn]

wrobert, please tell us more about these visioning meetings going on for 4 years. Who is holding them? Where are they being held? Thanks.

 

[wrobert]

wrobert, please tell us more about these visioning meetings going on for 4 years. Who is holding them? Where are they being held? Thanks.

I have been to a couple of them several years ago, is it David Goescth (sp?) from the college that was the moderator, if I am remembering correctly, they were being run by the Chamber and the EDC, and the powers that be were meeting with another guy/consultant repeatedly about their vision for Walton County back when Rosier was still a commissioner working on something along the same lines.

All I remember is what two times I attended, little participation from the public.

 

[scooterbug44]

Not to be rude, but it seems like we have planning groups out the wazoo, yet I never hear of them DOING anything besides meeting and "visioning." I know that meetings etc. are part of the process, but results should be too.

Is there a way to combine/streamline some of these groups (or get some results)? My guess is that there is low public participation because people are busy with one of the many other groups.

And I submit that any publicly funded department/group who only produces ideas/studies might be a good place to start w/ budget cuts.

 

[wrobert]

Not to be rude, but it seems like we have planning groups out the wazoo, yet I never hear of them DOING anything besides meeting and "visioning." I know that meetings etc. are part of the process, but results should be too.

Is there a way to combine/streamline some of these groups (or get some results)? My guess is that there is low public participation because people are busy with one of the many other groups.

And I submit that any publicly funded department/group who only produces ideas/studies might be a good place to start w/ budget cuts.

Maybe the first thing we should do is hire a meeting scheduler.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I attended several of these visioning meetings a few years ago. As I recall they were being coordinated by the Chamber; there were a lot of people involved; but, I never saw any results of anything. and the woman who was the head of the chamber then, is no longer with the chamber.

After all the meetings, there were no action items or list of those responsible for getting items accomplished--at least not that I ever saw.

Agree with with Scooterbug, the meetings are a waste of time if there is no followup.

 

[Susan Horn]

I attended some of those Chamber visioning meetings too -- Vision 2020 -- and never saw anything happen out of that. Very disheartening to put in so much time and effort to contribute, and have the leadership not lead, not even follow the lead of the followers!

I think Walton County Down the Road is a Walton County thing, not a Chamber thing; I also think that with Down the Road, Commissioner Comander is working to pull together all these different groups and get something more coherent/cohesive/unified going.

I agree it seems there have been lots of visions and nothing done to accomplish them, and I don't know why. For what it's worth, all the vision docs I've seen for Walton County and the Panhandle, over many years, come up with basically the same picture. Idealist that I am, though, I keep trying in hopes that one of these days, the vision will get some traction.

I suspect that making the vision into 3-D reality requires some serious changes to the way things are done (including Comp Plan/LDC). This county has a history of being change-resistant in lots of ways. Or as I am often reminded by someone wiser than me, you can't turn a battleship on a dime.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I attended some of those Chamber visioning meetings too -- Vision 2020 -- and never saw anything happen out of that. Very disheartening to put in so much time and effort to contribute, and have the leadership not lead, not even follow the lead of the followers!

I think Walton County Down the Road is a Walton County thing, not a Chamber thing; I also think that with Down the Road, Commissioner Comander is working to pull together all these different groups and get something more coherent/cohesive/unified going.

I agree it seems there have been lots of visions and nothing done to accomplish them, and I don't know why. For what it's worth, all the vision docs I've seen for Walton County and the Panhandle, over many years, come up with basically the same picture. Idealist that I am, though, I keep trying in hopes that one of these days, the vision will get some traction.


I suspect that making the vision into 3-D reality requires some serious changes to the way things are done (including Comp Plan/LDC). This county has a history of being change-resistant in lots of ways. Or as I am often reminded by someone wiser than me, you can't turn a battleship on a dime.

Susan, do you suppose it's possible for Comm. Comander to find the documentation from those meetings? We spent a lot of time and there were many written documents...seems a shame to lose all that information, and reinvent the wheel yet again...

 

[Susan Horn]

Susan, do you suppose it's possible for Comm. Comander to find the documentation from those meetings? We spent a lot of time and there were many written documents...seems a shame to lose all that information, and reinvent the wheel yet again...

GW, I think the question might be, can the Chamber of Commerce locate the docs. They are the ones, as I recall, who ran the Vision 20/20 process. There is a more recent vision doc, name of which I can't recall, that to me read like an expanded/updated 20/20, but it was for Okaloosa-Walton and perhaps another county or two. It was just completed in December 2008, I think.

Com. Comander would no doubt appreciate hearing from citizens who want to make sure their contributions to the previous vision work are incorporated. You might contact Jason Bryan at the Planning Department (267.1955). I believe he is the one in charge of this project. He probably will remember the name of this most recent vision document, and can probably tell you how to get a copy of it.