To date, the Planning Board has held three public forums to discuss the Master Plan Vision Statement - on April 9th, May 14th and June 11th. Discussions were directed by members of the public attending the forum and on April 9th and May 14th focused on job creation and economic development in the Town. Suggestions from the members of the public at those meetings included:
- Increase employment opportunities in Wakefield
- Pursue more businesses to create more jobs
- Create incentives to encourage businesses/industries to locate here (tax incentives, building construction, grant funding)
- Encourage business development along Rte 16
- Reuse historic structures for business and industry
- Encourage BOS to appoint a committee to look at economic development issues and to propose an economic development plan
- Develop a packet of materials to guide potential applicants through the permitting process
- Review existing zoning to possibly increase areas zoned for commercial and light industrial uses
- Commerce and industry can and should be off the highway and unobtrusive
- Encourage the Chamber of Commerce to become more involved in economic development issues
More people attended the June 11th meeting, and the Master Plan process and how the Master Plan is used to guide development were discussed in detail. There was more discussion about economic development, including the need to create incentives to attract businesses and to have housing that is affordable to the employees of these businesses. A discussion regarding protection of natural resources was also started at this meeting.
The Planning Board discussed forming a committee of residents to study economic development and related housing issues. That committee will eventually make recommendations to the Planning Board for inclusion in the Town's Master Plan update.
Here are links to the minutes for the April 9th and May 14th Master Plan forums:
http://www.wakefieldnh.com/PlanningBoard/2009/PB%20Minutes%204-9-09.pdf
http://www.wakefieldnh.com/PlanningBoard/2009/PB%20Minutes%205-14-09.pdf
A link to the minutes of the June 11th forum will be posted as soon as those minutes are available online.
At the April 9th meeting, the Planning Board decided to hold Master Plan forums at locations other that Town Hall in order to make it easier for residents to attend. The next Master Plan public forum will be held at the Greater Wakefield Resource Center in Union on Thursday, July 9th and the August forum will be at the East Wakefield Fire Station on Thursday, August 13th. Both forums will begin at 7 p.m. So please plan to join us and share your ideas as we plan for Wakefield's future.
In the meantime, visit the blog often. We'll post frequent updates here as well as survey questions that you can respond to online. And soon we'll have a way for you to post your Master Plan suggestions and comments on the blog. We'll also post your photographs of those places and things that make Wakefield special to you. You can e-mail those photos to our Town Planner at planner@wakefieldnh.com.
We look forward to seeing you at one of the upcoming forums!
