Agenda Packets - 1995/09/05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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The citizen participation process focuses on the communities of Arden Hills, Mounds View,New Brighton, and Shoreview, as they border the Army plant, are represented on the Reutilization Committee, and are the most affected by the future of the site. Members of nearby communities will not be actively solicited, but will be welcome to participate. How people will be reached to participate: The following methods of encouraging participation will be utilized. The methods are designed to ensure broad-based, representative participation, within existing time constraints. Use of sponsoring organizations. Community organizations, such as churches, PTAs, business associations, or neighborhood groups, will be sought to cosponsor or assist in planning and publicizing meetings. The sponsoring organization could contact members to attend a meeting,provide membership lists or meeting space, or other assistance. Local newspapers, bulletin boards, and other community information sources will be used, to spread notification as widely as possible. In addition, flyers will be distributed in neighborhoods immediately surrounding each meeting site. Personal contacts will be used, where appropriate, to encourage attendance. Format of Community Meetings: The community meetings will be information and brainstorming sessions, designed to solicit input from citizens about their community, its strengths and needs, and ideas and concerns for future uses of the Army property. There will be a standard format followed for each meeting to ensure comparability of responses. The first portion of the meeting will be devoted to acquainting participants with basic facts about the Army site and the conversion process, as well as providing examples of other successful conversion projects and/or community development or participatory planning efforts. The second portion will be a brainstorming session in which small groups of participants will respond to a series of questions about community strengths and needs; ideas, hopes and concerns about the Army site; and a discussion of what values should guide the conversion process. Finally, participants will complete a short exit survey. It will include basic demographic information to ensure that meeting participation is representative of the community's population, as well as other questions. The meetings will be led by trained facilitators with coordination and organizational work done by the Arsenal Cleanup and Conversion Project. Later meetings may be facilitated by community members who receive training through our team of facilitators. 3