Westerly - State of Rhode Island: Division of Planning

The Westerly Comprehensive Planof malls and large retail businesses. Keeping small local businesses viable was seen as a priority formany participants. The downtown area was identified as a success and a highly valuable asset toWesterly and one that should continue to see investment and appropriate development. Maintainingour natural resources and open space and accessibility to beaches was also a highly importantpriority for the group. There was discussion about the need to seek out alternative revenue streams(other than property taxes) to help fund the future needs of the town. The Superintendentsuggested making education excellence a core driver in the town’s economic development strategy.9.4 Public Workshops9.4.1 Round OneTwo interactive public workshops were held at the beginning of the Comprehensive Plan process,one each on the evenings of July 31 and August 1, 2007. The sessions were held on Tuesday, July 31at the Venice Restaurant, 165 Shore Road and Wednesday, August 1, at the Elks Club, 1 DixonStreet. There were 69 total combined participants from the public in the workshops; members ofthe Citizens Advisory Committee participated as facilitators and observers.Each workshop featured background information about the Plan and Plan process as well as aninteractive portion. The interactive portion of the program encouraged both individual input as wellas group consensus-building. The purpose of the meetings was to educate the public about the Planand the importance of the Plan and to identify issues that should be addressed through the planningprocess. By using both individual and group input techniques, the workshop sought to encouragecollaboration and cooperation in problem identification and solutions.Participants were given workbooks and seated at tables in groups. Each table had a large map of thetown. The workbooks asked for individual feedback in the issue areas of land use, circulation,economy and community services. Each section asked the participant individually to rate each offour or five statements identifying the level to which they strongly agreed, agreed, neither agreed nordisagreed, disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement. Then, working as a group and usingthe maps, participants were asked to identify areas where issues are prevalent – for example, wheresidewalks are needed, areas for open space preservation, etc. At the end of the session, groups ofparticipants were asked to identify the top three issues from among all of the items identified anddiscussed over the course of the evening and present these findings to the assembled group.The tabulated outcome of these workshops as well as the opinions and views expressed during theseand other public input sessions helped to lay the basis of the goals and objectives for the Plan whichexpress the vision of the future for the town of Westerly. These sessions also helped alert theconsulting team to issues of special concern about which they may not have been aware.The results of the workshop’s individual input appear below.peter j. smith & company, inc. 132