Planning board reviews Housing Master Plan chapter engagement plan and discusses outreach before August meetings
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Summary
The board reviewed a consultant‑draft community engagement plan required by a Round‑2 grant, discussed an August outreach timeline and agreed to start preparatory outreach (capturing housing stories) ahead of the consultant‑led work.
The Planning Board reviewed a consultant‑provided community engagement plan for the Housing Master Plan chapter and discussed outreach steps leading into an August meeting the consultant expects to use as a major engagement checkpoint.
Town staff said the engagement plan is a grant requirement for the Round‑2 housing planning grant and that consultant Judy prepared an outline with checkpoints and potential public events. Joseph (staff) told the board the plan is “a requirement of the new round 2 grant to have something documented about what your schedule of community engagement is.”
Board members discussed whether preparatory outreach should begin before August. Several suggested using other public events and high‑attendance meetings (zoning‑amendment hearings were cited) as opportunities to present the housing chapter work. The board considered recording short local housing stories or doing brief interviews to build momentum and test messaging ahead of the consultant‑led online survey and platform.
Members asked staff to follow up with Judy to clarify the August meeting content and to share more detail about the consultant’s online engagement platform. The board agreed it would be useful to have some small, board‑led outreach (for example, short interviews and a presence at community fairs) to complement the consultant’s work and to prepare department heads for the process.
Timing and grant constraints were discussed: staff said final deliverables will fall near the town meeting cycle and that there may be only a narrow window (one to two months) of wiggle room near the end of the grant schedule. The board also discussed whether funding for the housing chapter could be paired with capital planning (CIP) requests or with a broader master‑plan funding strategy.
Action and next steps: staff will check with Judy about the August meeting scope and timetables and will report back. The board agreed by consensus to begin informal outreach activities (collecting local housing stories and coordinating messaging) in advance of the consultant‑led events.