Dublin’s Planning Board wants to update the town’s master plan in a way that allows small amounts of measured growth.
The board held a public hearing on Saturday to encourage residents to voice their opinions on the town’s future. During the meeting, the board discussed the latest draft of the vision statement, a document that will shape the master plan revision moving forward.
“The 2007 master plan was put in place to discourage growth because of an anticipated wave of growth, but the surge never came,” said Planning Board member Dale Gabel. “We have to swing the needle back.”
The board told the dozen residents in attendance that the master plan – which has not been finalized – will promote small amounts of growth to help improve the rural character and other aspects of town, as doing nothing will continue the slight decline experienced over the past decade.
The board has determined, via information gleaned from nearly 200 respondents of a survey and numerous public meetings, that the majority of Dublin residents would not like to see any major changes in town, an impetus moved forward in the board’s vision statement.
Resident Traceymay Kalvaitis said she took issue with the language in the vision statement, specifically the sentence about Dublin residents not wanting major changes, as she didn’t feel that the small amount of survey respondents wasn’t indicative of the entire town.
“It kind of speaks to the white elephant in the room,” said Kalvaitis. “If we say we want change, it means we don’t like the town the way it is.”
Some of the other residents at the meeting agreed with Kalvaitis, saying the sentence should be changed into a more positive statement.
The board said it would take comments into consideration when approving the final draft of the vision statement. While no changes in town will come through the crafting of the vision statement, Planning Board chair Bruce Simpson said things like changes to the town’s village district could be brought to the town after the mater plan is approved.