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City to unveil draft master plan at June 3 Future Summit; staff seeks final public input
Summary
City staff announced a public 'Future Summit' for June 3 at Heberden Hall to present the draft master plan, offer interactive stations and childcare, and collect final community priorities before steering‑committee review and plan finalization.
City planning staff announced that the draft master plan will be publicly revealed at a Future Summit on Tuesday, June 3, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Heberden Hall inside Keene Public Library, 60 Winter Street. Staff encouraged Planning Board members and the public to attend; Cheshire Children’s Museum will provide free childcare for potty‑trained children, and attendees will receive raffle tickets to encourage participation.
The summit is a milestone in the master‑plan process: it will display the draft plan’s six strategic pillars, invite attendees to prioritize goals using an interactive 'pom‑pom' voting activity, and present a future‑land‑use map and the implementation section. Planner Mary Brenner said the event is intended as the last major public engagement opportunity before the steering committee begins detailed review on June 10.
Brenner said staff provided edits to the consultants and expect to send a draft to the steering committee in advance of its June 10 meeting; she characterized the draft as largely complete and the summit as an opportunity to refine and prioritize implementation actions. The summit will include stations where attendees can record messages for future residents and contribute to a time capsule, and printed copies of the draft plan will be available for review.
Several board members asked how prioritization will work; Brenner said prior online prioritization narrowed action items to four to six top action steps per pillar and that the summit will provide another data point to focus implementation priorities. Mayor Jay Khan and other board members urged care in labeling the plan’s environmental pillar; one board member expressed concern the 'flourishing environment' label did not capture Keene’s distinct natural assets and asked staff to pass the concern to the consultants.
Staff described the next steps: public summit (June 3), steering‑committee review (June 10), and an upcoming Planning Board meeting to continue formal consideration. The draft master plan and outreach are part of the city's multi‑step public engagement and implementation planning process.
