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Council presses for visioning before major land-use or budget moves; staff to scope public-engagement options
Summary
Councilors urged that a renewed strategic vision — whether as a separate strategic plan or through a refreshed comprehensive plan — be developed with public engagement before large policy shifts. Staff will scope engagement models and timelines, and will discuss county cooperation.
Council members at the retreat pressed for a renewed discussion of the town nd region—uture, saying a clear vision should guide land-use, budget and capital decisions.
Council member Jonathan described the need to define the town—uture in order to set strategy: "What kind of community do you want to be in 20 years?" he asked, urging council to separate tactics from goals. Council members discussed whether that vision should be embedded in an updated comprehensive plan (the town—omp plan), be built as a separate strategic or visioning process, or use both instruments.
Staff and councilors discussed public-engagement approaches. Options under consideration include a smaller charrette-style working group that drafts a vision followed by wider community engagement; a broader multi-stage charrette that front-loads community input; or a hybrid model that uses public workshops and focused stakeholder groups. Several councilors noted the time, staff capacity and cost differences between high-touch community charrettes and lower-touch processes.
Council repeatedly said the comp plan and strategic vision should be coordinated with the county; development and resource issues (for example, the Virginian project and housing preservation work) involve county staff as partners. Planning staff said they have an ongoing work program and will return a scoping memo that identifies staff needs, estimated consultant costs and recommended levels of engagement.
Council members also asked that any visioning process make explicit how the strategic goals would link to budgeting and implementation — for example, by lining up funding sources and assigning accountability to departments. Staff said the comp plan contains many of the town—stablished goals but that a separate visioning process could better articulate trade-offs and implementation steps.
Staff next steps: return a scoping memorandum that lays out consultation models (charrette, small-group draft + public review, survey-based), estimated costs and a recommended timeline tied to the FY2026 work plan and joint town-county coordination.
