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Date: 5/18/2023
LONGMEADOW — Longmeadow wants your opinion.
On May 24, the town will be hosting a Long-Range Plan Community Visioning Workshop. Assistant Town Manager Corrin Meise-Munns said, “It’s the main way for people to have their voice heard for the next decade.”
A long-range plan, sometimes called a master plan, is a guiding document created by municipalities to determine the town’s priorities for the near future. The “blueprint,” as Meise-Munns called it, is intended to cover the next five to 10 years and be updated at that point. Despite this, Longmeadow’s last long-range plan was completed in 2004.
The initial funding to work on the new long-range plan was received through a grant from the state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, which helps communities identify and prepare for ways in which climate change may increase risk to the city or town. Meise-Munns said that people were not as aware of climate change when the last plan was written, but this time, land use, economic development, housing, town services, transportation and recreation will be examined through the lens of climate change.
In practice, Meise-Munns said this may include examining whether potholes will be more prevalent as extreme heat and cold snaps result in more frost-thaw cycles. Similarly, the town might consider whether more frequent intense storms will exacerbate existing flooding issues or overflow culverts under Longmeadow Street, leading to flooding of a major artery between Springfield and Enfield.
While a long-range plan is required by the state, she said it is developed using input from residents. Since receiving the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant, Longmeadow has hired consulting firm Barrett Planning Group, who has been gathering and analyzing data from the town and state. In early April, two focus groups comprised of between 20 and 40 residents and town employees with expertise in key areas were conducted. The information from these groups “ground-truthed” the data, Meise-Munns said, confirming that patterns shown in the data are born out in Longmeadow.
The next step is to conduct a “visioning session,” Meise-Munns said. “It isn’t something where people are going to be talked at for two hours,” she said. Instead, she said residents will actively tackle the questions of “where are we now and where do we want to be?” For those who cannot attend the visioning session, a survey will be released that will allow people to give input. The survey will be available in late May and will be accessible through a link on the town website.
Meise-Munns said the visioning session and community survey bring issues to light that “may not be reflected in a data set.” This is an opportunity for residents to “memorialize and identify the breadth of concerns,” she said.
In late 2024 or early 2025, Meise-Munns said an implementation workshop will be conducted to explore how to put the long-range plan into action.
The Long-Range Plan Community Visioning Workshop will take place at 7 p.m. in the Longmeadow Adult Center Media Room.
For more information, visit longmeadowma.gov/LongRangePlan.