The City of Xenia wants to hear from Xenians about their ideas for the future of the community. The City has created a public participation plan and website for “X-Plan” – the update of the City’s comprehensive plan. A comprehensive plan is a community based vision for future development and a roadmap of how to get there. It asks citizens what their vision is for the future of the community and then coordinates a wide range of City policies, actions and decisions toward achieving that vision. X-Plan represents the first update of the City’s comprehensive plan since 1997.
The X-Plan website (www.ci.xenia.oh.us/x-plan.html)describes X-Plan and how the process will work. It will also provide important project updates such as upcoming meetings and documents from various stages of the process. It includes an email link that allows citizens to sign up to receive email updates about the project (send to xplan@ci.xenia.oh.us with “xplan” as the
subject).
Below is an overview of opportunities Xenians will have to help shape X-Plan:
Public Workshops. Five interactive workshops are planned – open to all Xenia citizens. The first three workshops (to be held in November and January) will be interactive, small-grouporiented and focused on finding out what’s important to Xenians and hearing ideas for future development and community improvement. The last two workshops (to be held in Spring/Fall 2012)will be open-house-format meetings where drafts of X-Plan at different stages will be presented for public viewing and feedback.
Online Participation. A virtual meeting page, using the Ideascale.com platform, will be developed where participants will be invited to post their ideas in response to questions about various issues, and then vote on one another’s answers. Through this process, the most popular ideas will automatically “rise to the top.” Online participation sessions will be publicized and generally held during the same period of time as the traditional public workshops, in order to provide an alternative opportunity for citizens who may not be willing or able to attend physical meetings. More details will be provided once this website is established.
Survey. The City will utilize Wright State University’s Center for Urban and Public Affairs to perform an updated Citizen Perception Survey in late 2011. The survey will provide indepth information from a large number of respondents who may or may not attend meetings. School Classroom exercise. City staff will involve students by working with the Xenia Community School District to incorporate an X-Plan classroom visioning exercise.
Additional Meetings. City staff will meet with established community groups and organizations at regularly scheduled meetings as an additional means of capturing different perspectives in the community.
Steering Committee. The X-Plan Steering Committee will be a group of community leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors that will oversee the Comprehensive Plan’s development and assist with community outreach. An important role of this group—which will include both residents and non-residents—will be building a foundation for future partnerships with the City to help implement the plan after it is completed.
The City will utilize a range of outreach methods to notify the public about upcoming meetings and online participation sessions as they draw closer such as press releases, the City’s website and Facebook page, email blasts, utility bills, The Xenia Communicator, the Government Channel, and flyers posted at public sites.
To learn more and keep track of the process – go to www.ci.xenia.oh.us/x-plan.html, and/or sign up for email updates by sending an email to xplan@ci.xenia.oh.us (enter “xplan” as the subject).