CivicMoxie set up tables in Concord Center and West Concord to inform people about the planning process and ask for input. Over 130 people completed an intercept survey over the course of a few hours, many of whom had not participated in the online survey, which had gathered an additional 450 responses.
Signs around town prompted passers-by to offer input via text message. The above was placed outside the Concord Visitors Center and asked about mode of transportation.
A diagram illustrating an approach to implementation that uses systems based planning. The Envision Concord Committee developed a series of criteria to consider when enacting new policies or projects.
CivicMoxie set up tables in Concord Center and West Concord to inform people about the planning process and ask for input. Over 130 people completed an intercept survey over the course of a few hours, many of whom had not participated in the online survey, which had gathered an additional 450 responses.
ENVISION CONCORD
Concord at the forefront of a systems approach to comprehensive planning and embracing APA sustainability principles
Working closely with the Envision Concord (Comprehensive Long-Range Plan) Committee and the Town’s Planning Division, CivicMoxie led the Comprehensive Long-Range Planning effort in the Town of Concord, MA. This process built upon the Town’s numerous studies and plans with the goal of increasing cross-departmental and commission-led efforts to maximize collaboration and efficiency in the Town and to support the community’s work to attain its vision. Community engagement beyond the traditional public hearing setting was one of the key components of the process, which included location-based text-response sign questions, an online town-wide survey, an interactive project website, public events utilizing the “World Café” discussion framework and real-time voting, outdoor tabling and intercept surveying, along with key stakeholder interviews and a range of focus groups, including youth and service providers.
Concord has significant natural and social assets that are being protected and nurtured through Town-led sustainability policies that have been at the forefront of progressive environmental and energy conservation. CivicMoxie worked with the Envision Concord Committee and Town on finding the balance between driving for higher standards of environmental, social, and fiscal sustainability while reducing unintended impacts on property values, tax revenue, service demands, as well as shifting demographics. The overall goal of this comprehensive plan is for it to come to life as a dynamic process that creates a “space” for collaborations and actions that includes not only Town departments, but also other community and business organizations and institutions to help celebrate the town’s culture and history while simultaneously encouraging strategic development and growth.
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Project type:
Community engagement, comprehensive plan / master plan, downtown / district plan
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