Comprehensive planning is necessary for area’s future
Members of the Courier Sentinel editorial board include publisher Carol O’Leary, general manager Kris O’Leary and Star News editor Brian Wilson.
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” ~ Benjamin Franklin A classic question on any job interview goes something like, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
There are shelves of self-help books that give different strategies for how to answer that question. All those strategies revolve around the intent of the question to measure a candidate’s motivation and future goals.
As with many things, it is less about having an absolute right or wrong answer, and more with having an answer demonstrating you have a strategy toward dealing with the future and have looked beyond what you are doing for lunch that day.
While it is perfectly acceptable to be a leaf in the wind, moving where the air current takes you, it will likely lead to getting passed over for promotions and being stuck with the tasks no one wants to do.
The comprehensive planning process asks that same sort of question on a community-wide level. Instead of a personal level, the question becomes, what do you want your community to look like in future decades?
There is little doubt that the Town of Lake Holcombe and the surrounding area, looks different now, than when many long-time residents were young. What was once undeveloped shoreline has been turned into campgrounds, lake homes and largely unregulated short-term rental properties. There is more traffic and unfamiliar faces.
In a world where the difference between a disruptive developer and a conservationist is often who built their home in the woods first, being intentional about looking to the community’s future is essential. This is especially true in areas rich with natural resources and attractions, where overdevelopment or cutting corners to maximize profits over environmental impact, can have longlasting negative consequences.
These impacts include not only touchy-feely environmental concerns, but can impact property values, demand for municipal services and property taxes.
Local community planning puts community members, rather than out-of-town developers into the driver’s seat, when it comes to setting a path for what the community should look like in the future.
Board members of the Town of Lake Holcombe should be commended for looking ahead and considering developing a community-wide comprehensive plan. Community members must do their part and be active participants in the planning process.
Local residents concerned about establishing a future vision of the community, must be willing to step forward and do the work needed, to create a plan for how the community can thrive for generations to come.
Communities change. Sometimes the change is for the better, sometimes it is for the worse. Local comprehensive planning gives residents and government officials the tools necessary, to steer the community toward a bright future.
