Open house brings out a lively group of contributors.
Making the most of a beautiful spring evening, an engaged collection of neighbors and business owners dropped by the Ranson Civic Center this past Tuesday, May 9, between 6:30 and 8pm, for the Ranson 2023 Comprehensive Plan kick-off Open House.
The event was the first of several public meetings that will occur over the course of the next 10 months and provided a forum by which members of the Ranson community could share their ambitions and concerns for the city’s next decade. Those opinions complemented a series of smaller stakeholder meetings — exploring the interests of local businesses, the development community, and adjacent governments — also held earlier this week.
Together with survey results and issue mapping being conducted on this website, the week's activities will form the basis for the plan’s first draft, expected early fall for community review.
The evening’s program was organized around the five primary topic areas required by the state of West Virginia to be addressed in local comprehensive planning — growth and development; transportation and mobility; economic development; city services; and preservation. Each topic was represented by a display board that included relevant questions for participant consideration. Community input was provided in the form of affixed comments and stickers.
Setting the baseline context of where Ranson is today was a Preliminary Assessment made available to participants containing a wealth of research on Ranson's demographics, growth statistics, and employment trends. That report is available for review at the bottom of this post.
The most discussed issues? Balancing industry with environmental protection, and neighborhood traffic safety and speed enforcement. But there were of course many more ideas and concerns put forth over the course of the evening.
Miss the meeting but still want to contribute?
Not to worry. We’re still collecting input through the end of the month via this website. Here’s how:
Online Survey. Answer a series of questions about your experiences, ambitions and concerns for Ranson’s future. A quick and easy way to help broaden our collected perspectives. [Survey response period has concluded.]
Online Interactive Map. Indicate "routes," which includes desired bike lanes, trails or sidewalks; or "points," which identify areas needing improvement, presenting opportunity, or in an unsafe condition. [Map contribution period has concluded.]
What’s next?
Using input collected in the Open House, online, and through Facebook comments, the project team will soon begin the work of summarizing our community’s vision and preparing the first draft of content for review later this year.
Please participate if you haven’t already done so, then stay tuned to this website or the city’s Facebook page for updates on next steps.
Meeting Materials
Display Boards (.pdf 1.2mb)
Preliminary Assessment (.pdf, 4.1mb)
Comments