For the people

Clarenville is on the verge of change. There are opportunities awakening for the betterment of the town's quality of living and real reasons to rethink old ways.

Now, in order to take control of the ropes and steer the town into a certain destiny, a map is needed. Thankfully, as need would have it, one has been developed and has already been presented to the town, in the form of a strategic plan.

The plan has been in the works for nearly a year. The Strategic Plan Working Group, headed by deputy mayor Lisa Browne, includes mayor Fred Best, and councilors Paul Tilley and Frazer Russell.

Since the fall focus meetings have been held in and around Clarenville to discuss the town's shortcomings and strengths.

Much of the feedback and suggestions citizens had to offer have been incorporated into the plan.

Last week townspeople got their first look at the strategic plan when Browne outlined the details in a public meeting on April 1. About 20 people attended.

The vision statement led the way for the presentation to begin, it reads:

Clarenville will be a healthy and engaged community with civic-minded citizens who benefit from high quality municipal services.

Although it may seem very ambitious to assign one single vision to the town as a whole, Browne says every effort has been made to try and cover all bases and to represent all groups and individuals within Clarenville.

While attempts were made to gather as many voices as possible, Lisa Browne says not everyone was as willing to take part as would be ideal. Not only does she see lacking communications as a perennial issue between council and residents, she sees it as problem throughout the town.

She hopes the plan will change that, allowing everyone to be not only on the same page but on the same team.

"If I had a dollar for every time somebody said during this process 'I find out about things when they're done' then I'd probably have a thousand dollars by now. People read about things after the fact either in The Packet or wherever," Browne says.

The plan states that if the town is ready to evolve; it needs to develop a stronger heart in the way of community spirit and a more organized mind in terms of getting information out to everyone.

Given the growth of the town over the years and the addition of new residents, the strategic plan looks to identify a more centered means of accessing information - ways in which everyone can work together for the benefit of the entire town.

One idea that has been introduced is an events calendar on the town's website, whereby you can add your own events. This resource would be a simple means of sharing information as well as receiving.

As for arts and recreation, there is a definite challenge to engage the community.

"The main comment we kept hearing was, if you have an event and you don't know if anyone's going to show up. You might have ten, you might have a thousand. There's no way of gauging if anyone's going to come out.

"A lot of people say it's because we are a transient town, but the facts don't really support that. It may have been true in the past but not necessarily anymore," explains Browne.

The strategic economic plan also considers infrastructure and development.

"This is a big one," says Browne, as many recommendations were made under this theme."

One written submission suggests, "We need sidewalks, signage (speed zones, fire hall, school, etc.), adequately designed roads and crosswalks."

Another argues that "White Hills should be an all-year round facility which includes a municipal campground."

People want to see more care and protection provided to the natural beauty of the area in terms of clear and consistent regulations, especially when it comes to residential and commercial development.

The plan also notes the option of expanding the town's boundaries for not only for safety reasons (explain this further) but to preserve natural areas.

It also suggests more attractive entrance signs would enhance the town's appearance and further promote Clarenville.

Again, with the theme of the environment in mind, Browne says "Waste Management is going to be a huge issue across the province very soon. We have to encourage recycling, composting, water conservation, sewage treatment, Christmas tree mulching... the works."

There is a long stretch of issues to address, which are not all mentioned here but are an integral part of the strategic plan. With so many ideas to keep track of, the implementation of this plan is something to approach and handle with great care.

Browne notes, "The comment you always hear in a planning process is that 'it's going to get shelved.' The suggestion is that we have a lead role assigned to each recommendation. Not to say that this person will do everything associated with that particular activity, but they have the accountability to say 'it's done' or 'it's not done.' We also have timelines associated with this plan."

The recommendation is that council will receive six-month reports, to assess whether or not things are on track.

In addition, two years into the plan, the SPWG will provide a progress report to the community, outlining achievements thus far, if they haven't already become self-evident.

gsimms@thepacket.ca