by Brian Orr
HUERFANO- Walsenburg is gonna grow. That’s a given. But how exactly is what the City administration wants to try and guide. To that end, the City Council has hired Plan Tools, LLC to help interview people and write a guideline for the Council to work with.
The first of three planned public participation workshops was held last Wednesday at the Community Center. Of the over 3,000 residents of Walsenburg, about a dozen showed up to give their input Actually, this was a fairly typical turnout for an event like this, said Martin Landers, the facilitator for Plan Tools. Landers and his assistant Michael Chaloma, of Land Images, had giant maps of Walsenburg and the surrounding countryside on every table, and asked those sitting there to write down what they would like to see happen, growth-wise for the next two decades. Ideas were tossed out, like making a walking path along the Cuchara River, or trying to get people to remove old couches and cars from the front of their proprty.
Plan Tools will take all their collected data (and they’re still collecting) and then analyze it. They will consider such things as services and infrastructure, and land-use analysis. Then they will take it to the “tools phase”, where they pull it all into a document and submit it to the City Council.
As part of their data collection of where people want to see the City going, Plan Tools has generated a questionnaire they would like for people to fill out and return to City Hall. One questionnaire is included in today’s Journal, in the Walsenburg delivery area. Another will be added to Walsenburg utility bills. You are asked to take the time to fill these out and return them by May 15, and let your voice be heard. People other than Walsenburg citizens are also welcome to share their opinions.
The next public workshop will be held July 23.
