By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The town is looking for residents to provide feedback for the new Visioning Plan that is now underway.
Planning Board Chair Brian Charville recalled during last week’s Select Board meeting that the 2022 Spring Town Meeting appropriated $10,000 in the fiscal year 2023 capital budget to allow a Visioning Plan, also known as a Mini Master Plan, to be undertaken. A Community Compact for the grant is also helping fund the project. He said the Planning Board has been working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) on the initiative.
“The current Master Plan for the town of Lynnfield was adopted in 2002,” said Charville. “We think it’s time to begin thinking about a new planning effort. There is no angle to this effort and we don’t have any expectations for what the outcome will be. It is just time to update what we have on the books. The Visioning Plan is the first step down that path to a more comprehensive Master Plan for the town being developed. MAPC is a regional planning body that exists in large part to help towns and cities do efforts such as these.”
MAPC Senior Land Use Planner Andrea Harris-Long is serving as the project manager for the Visioning Plan, which is called “Lynnfield 2040: Shaping Our Future Today.” She said MAPC will be working with town officials on the project over the next year. The initiative will cover topics such as transportation, open space, infrastructure, land use, economic development and housing.
“This is the first step if a community wants to undertake a comprehensive master plan,” said Harris-Long. “It’s an opportunity to hear from a lot of folks about what they see the future of Lynnfield being in the next 10 to 20 years.”
Harris-Long said the Visioning Plan is a “community-driven process.”
“MAPC has been hired to help facilitate community engagement and to work closely with the Planning Board to help facilitate the process,” said Harris-Long. “This is an opportunity for community members to tell town leadership what they would like to see over the next 10 to 20 years. This will help inform your work so you can have a strategic foundation for how you make decisions and town resources are used.”
Harris-Long said the Visioning Plan is different than a “full-blown comprehensive plan.”
“This is more high-level and more inspirational,” said Harris-Long. “We are doing a lot more community engagement, and less data analysis and policy recommendations because this is more of a fact-finding mission. We want to hear from residents. Hopefully this can inform a more comprehensive Master Plan if the town decides to go that route. This gives us a baseline for understanding what the community sees as priorities, issues and opportunities for Lynnfield. We are being open, transparent and inclusive in this process, and will be talking to all of the different community groups in Lynnfield in order to provide the best feedback.”
Harris-Long and MAPC Regional Land Use Planner 2 Sarah Scott interviewed local officials Feb. 21-24 on Zoom to gain a better understanding of Lynnfield. Scott also went on a tour of the town last month. She said MAPC will be issuing a townwide survey this spring as part of the Visioning Plan.
Additionally, Harris-Long said MAPC will be setting up a table at different community events to get feedback from residents and learn about their priorities. She said MAPC will be holding community forums this spring, and will be meeting with different focus groups as well.
“The goal is to engage a broad range of Lynnfield community members to hear a variety of perspectives and ideas,” said Harris-Long.
Harris-Long asked the Select Board to provide feedback about the Visioning Plan initiative.
Select Board Chairman Phil Crawford expressed his support for undertaking the project.
“This doesn’t just support the work we are doing. It defines the work that we are doing,” said Crawford. “We did a lot of this type of planning 13 years ago, but it wasn’t part of a Master Plan. It’s time for a new one.”
Crawford noted a lot of young families have moved to town since the last Master Plan was created 21 years ago, and he encouraged Harris-Long to get feedback about their “wants and needs.” He also said A Healthy Lynnfield is hosting the second annual Healthy Living Expo on the Town Common on Saturday, May 20.
“That would be a great place to set up a table,” said Crawford.
Select Board member Joe Connell recalled that the Strategic Planning Committee undertook a study about potential large capital projects that needed to be undertaken. He noted that the $18 million elementary schools’ expansion project has been completed, and the $63.5 million public safety buildings and Town Hall project will be getting underway later this year. He also noted that the Wakefield-Lynnfield Rail Trail is scheduled to be completed in the next several years.
“I think it’s important that you understand what we have going on the next couple of years,” said Connell.
Connell urged Harris-Long to administer the community-wide survey this spring because he noted a large number of residents take vacations during the summer.
“I think the feedback from the survey will be very helpful,” said Connell.
Select Board member Dick Dalton recalled that he served on the Planning Board when the last Master Plan was being developed.
“The biggest challenge that I recall was community engagement,” said Dalton. “Unless it is a controversial Town Meeting, we don’t get a lot of turnout and a lot of interest.”
Harris-Long acknowledged that community engagement is “challenging.”
“That is why we are trying to think of ways where we can meet the community where they are,” said Harris-Long. “We issued a townwide survey in Wrentham, and had a really good response. We had either 1,200 or 1,400 people respond to the first survey that we did, and we had 800 or 900 people respond to a second survey. In a community that is similar in size, I think we can do better. If we leave the survey open longer, it would be great to get between 2,000 to 2,500 people to fill it out. We are trying to be really creative with community engagement because it is difficult to get people to come to meetings unless something controversial is being discussed.”
Crawford said it would be “fantastic” if between 2,000 and 2,500 people respond to the survey. He recalled that the Fields Committee met with different community groups to get feedback about renovating the town’s fields and parks.
“We had a great turnout,” said Crawford. “When people can provide more input, they feel more involved and more invested. I wish you the best. I think it’s a great project, and I am looking forward to seeing the results.”
Harris-Long said residents can visit mapc.ma/LynnfieldVision to get project updates and learn about upcoming events, survey results and get recaps of previously held meetings.
In addition to Charville, Planning Board Vice Chair Kate Flaws, Planning Board member Amy MacNulty and Land Use Assistant Sondria Berman attended the Select Board meeting to show their support for the Visioning Plan initiative.