HANOVER — Officials are in the early stages of revising the town’s Master Plan and are asking residents to provide feedback, including through an online survey.
The town has sent out emails and mailers and posted fliers throughout the community encouraging involvement in the process.
“Public participation is critical to make sure we have the vision of the whole community,” said Robert Houseman, the town’s director of planning, zoning and codes.
The Master Plan is an important guide for enacting land use regulations, particularly zoning, and meant to help the town develop in a responsible way.
The Sustainability Master Plan Advisory Committee was formed last fall and began the process in September. Houseman said the plan is to have a document to present to the Planning Board by the end of the year.
The committee held its first community meeting online in early April.
Town Manger Julia Griffin stressed the importance of responding to the survey and said that while most towns revise the master plan once a decade, Hanover’s is overdue.
“Ours is more than 15 years old,” Griffin said.
Initially the effort was delayed when the town decided to change up the process to make it more transparent to residents.
“We decided to … make it less technical and more organic and more interactive,” Griffin said. “… It’s a new approach, but we hope it will result in an approach that will feel more alive to our residents.”
COVID further delayed the process.
“It prevented us from gathering in community forums,” Griffin said.
Beth Esinhart, the advisory committee chairwoman, also emphasized the need for residents to get involved at the April meeting, which included 133 participants.
“We want this process to be community driven with broad and inclusive community engagement,” Esinhart said. “This master plan will serve as the policy basis for future decision-making in Hanover.”
A link to the survey can be found at hanovernhmasterplan.com.
The committee’s next meeting is scheduled for May 21, and Houseman said the survey results are on the agenda, giving residents a couple more weeks to respond. The early returns, Houseman said, are not surprising.
“Right now, it’s housing, housing and housing,” Houseman said of the survey results so far.
He said the committee hopes to find the nuances among competing interests and create a plan that defines the next steps.
“We want to create the vision, create the implementation strategies and create the regulatory framework that implements those strategies,” Houseman said.
Darren Marcy can be reached at dmarcy@vnews.com or 802-291-4992.