Work Groups for the “Envisioning Marion County” Comprehensive Community Plan will present their first progress reports at a meeting on Thursday, November 3, 6:30pm. The public is invited to attend and participate in the process. The meeting will take place in the Community Room at Harding High School, 1500 Harding Highway East.
Each of the Work Group chairs will present their committee’s very first set of action plan proposals that are targeted toward fulfilling a Comprehensive Community Plan for all of Marion County. Refreshments will be served.
Community Plan chairman Marion City Schools Superintendent Dr. James Barney and the Work Group chairmen are hopeful that many community residents will come to the meeting and bring with them their enthusiasm and vision for a stronger, brighter Marion. The meeting will provide residents a convenient opportunity to hear the reports and then provide roundtable discussion feedback/input for the Work Groups to consider as they continue their work on the action plans in the upcoming months.
The Work Groups, organized in early September, represent three major aspects of Community Planning: Economic Sustainability, Social Sustainability, and Environmental Sustainability. The Economic Sustainability Work Group, chaired by Pam Hall, has subdivided into two groups:
- Economic Development (entrepreneurship, technology-based businesses, retail, health care, agriculture, etc.) and
- Efficient, Effective Services in Government (seeking ways to consolidate public services, e.g., entities like the fire departments and the 911 service).
The Social Sustainability Work Group, chaired by Frank Volenik, comprises:
- Education (pre-school readiness, improving school attendance and the high school graduation rate, greatly increasing number of students who pursue vocational, technical or post-seondary education, etc.);
- Social Services (need for coordination among all social service providers to address high poverty rate, effects of unemployment, health care, mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse issues;
- Heritage (new, creative strategies to enhance our local heritage, e.g., we were the home of a U.S. President, etc.).
The Environmental Sustainability Work Group, co-chaired by Sean DeWitt and Tom Graser, includes:
- Transportation (bike pathways, public transportation, walking accommodations);
- Recycling (increase city residential participation, make recycling participation more accessible for county residents, and other recycling efforts to make Marion County "Green";
- Parks & Recreation (increase usage of P&R, develop community gardens, expand farmers’ markets);
- Built Environment (affordable housing, neighborhood small retail/service businesses, old buildings);
- Natural Environment (enhancement opportunities offered by state-owned wetlands, Upper Olentangy Watershed, a county park district).
Community Planning Professionals Bill Grunkemeyer and Myra Moss from the Ohio State University Extension Services are attending the meetings to provide guidance and assistance as the Work Group committee members engage in developing goals, strategies and action plans for their respective Community Plan area.
The Work Groups are an outgrowth of roundtable discussions at meetings hosted by the Marion League of Women Voters last spring and summer. League hoped to inspire community grassroots interest in forging action plans that would carry out the proposals contained in a “Marion County Sustainable Comprehensive Plan: A Summary Vision Report” that was completed and published in 2006. The proposals were developed from extensive interview surveys of many area businesses and of 1700 Marion County residents. Survey respondents offered their vision and ideas for Envisioning the 21st Century to create a strong, vibrant, and attractive Marion.
The consensus of more than 100 community residents who participated in the roundtable discussions at LWVM’s Town Hall Meeting last April was that the time had come for taking action on developing meaningful action plans to enhance Marion’s 21st century viability. Then the four meetings that were subsequently hosted by LWVM last summer featured roundtable brainstorming discussions and consensus building on a vision of Marion that is for all of us in the community, our children and our grandchildren as we consider the short term (2-3 years), the mid-term into the future (5 – 10 years), and the long term (20-50 years).
Inspired by these visions, the 105 attendees of these meetings organized into the 3 major Work Groups, have rolled up their sleeves and begun to work on the action plans that will bring the visions to fruition.
