It may have been with some trepidation that Director Don Freiert asked for a show of hands by those who opposed a Long Range Planning Committee proposal to spend $40,000 on a Vision and Master Planning Process.
After all, most of the comments made during the Thursday, July 19 Town Hall meeting on the matter had revealed deep skepticism about the idea, despite Freiert's yeoman like defense of the recommendation.
But, in the end, once hands on both sides had been raised, opinion among the three-dozen landowners in attendance echoed the feedback received in an earlier Town Hall, via email and through the website: thirteen opposed, a dozen in favor, and a dozen or so not ready to commit one way or the other.
Matter of Significant Interest
The Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA] Board has designated the Vision and Master Plan proposal "a matter of significant interest" to the community, triggering enhanced opportunities for input by the membership, which has now weighed in at one morning Board meeting, and two evening Town Halls. The Board is expected to cast a first vote on the proposal during the evening Board meeting on Tuesday, July 24, with a final vote taking place on Tuesday, August 14.
Freiert began the meeting with a Powerpoint presentation explaining the rationale for the proposal, in which he was assisted by Roger Walden, a principal in the Chapel Hill office of Denver, CO-based, Clarion Associates, the firm Long Range Planning is recommending to lead the planning effort. [The Times reported on Freiert's presentation here; a copy of the slides is available here.]
Freiert explained that Seven Lakes West lacks a clear vision of how landowners want the community to develop in the future.
"A vision leads to strategies, which lead to the establishing of priorities to guide the allocation of resources," Freiert said, "which is my money and your money."
Without a written plan, based on community consensus, he added, the West Side is subject to the whim of every new Board of Directors, a body which has the potential to turn over one-third of its membership each year.
"This is not a criticism of the Boards," Freiert said. "But the community itself should be in a position of helping them understand what makes sense from a broad community standpoint."
Answering a frequent objection to the prospect of spending $40,000 to hire an outside firm to lead the community through a planning process, Freiert asked, "Why not do it ourselves?"
"One of the primary reasons is that we are not very good at it," he answered. The last survey of community priorities fielded by Long Range Planning generated "a couple hundred responses" from a membership that includes 1,700 dues-paying lots, Freiert explained. He argued that Clarion Associates "are experienced at this" and have developed techniques for maximizing community input.
Comments lean toward the skeptical
Once Freiert's presentation was complete, Judy Streit asked whether the community shouldn't vote on an expenditure of $40,000 and wondered why public input was being solicited in the Summer, "when so many residents are away and can't participate."
Freiert explained that it would be a Board decision adding that the extended public comment process for a matter of significant interest meant, in this case, that the issue would have been before the membership for six weeks prior to a final Board vote.
Bill Price read a prepared statement in which he strongly supported "the concepts and goals of long range planning." But he argued that the planning process should look beyond the gates of Seven Lakes West "to see how the whole area will be developed."
"What sorts of businesses do we want in the community?" Price asked. "How can we as a community control what sorts of businesses will be outside our gates." Noting that the SLWLA Board had strongly opposed a recent drive to incorporate the greater Seven Lakes area, he said, "I think we should take another look so we can influence what is happening outside our gates."
Betsy Mikula noted that "we've had the long range planning ever since I have been here, and the community has expanded very nicely. I feel we have lots of people here who can be visionaries."
"Visions and Master Plans are nice buzzwords," George Reynolds said."They sometimes become wish lists instead of needs lists." Noting that Seven Lakes West has very little opportunity for expansion, and that the Board already has several long range projects in the works, including the mailhouse, entry redesign, and road repaving, he said, "I don't understand what $40,000 is going to buy us . . . . Before you spend the money, I say have the Board come up with a vision and a master plan. It won't take rocket science to do it."
Responding to Price's idea that a planning effort should encompass the entire community, Renolds said "I think all the communities could get together and plan for that. That's where the vision and the master plan belongs."
Grace Kirkpatrick -- a 26-year resident of the West Side -- said: "I can't think of any place I'd rather be than just as it is. We need to think about safety, beauty, and our home values, and let the rest be as it is."
Clarion's experience
Bob Fewkes objected that the $40,000 expense of the study had not been included in the Fiscal Year 2012-2013 operating budget proposed by the Board and approved by the membership.
Fewkes asked whether Clarion had worked on a Vision and Master Plan for a gated community. Clarion's Walden replied that they had not, and Freiert argued that it would be impossible to find a firm that had done planning for other communities that matched the unique characteristics of Seven Lakes West.
"That firm doesn't exist," Freiert said. "It's not about matching someone else, it's about what we want as a community. It's about what we want, and whether they can help us get that down in a plan."
Jean Downer asked for examples of communities that Clarion had worked with on similar planning projects.
"We have done a lot of work with neighborhoods," Walden explained, "but not gated communities."
In that work, Clarion aims to be "clear about what's out there in terms of factors that might be impacting Seven Lakes West," he said.
"My reconnaissance says that there is divergence of opinion, that not everyone feels the same way about the future of the community . . . . We can help facilitate that dialogue and help come to some consensus about what you want."
Downer asked whether Board members had spoken with previous Clarion clients to get a sense of their satisfaction with the firm's work. Freiert replied that checking references was part of the process that a subcommittee of the Long Range Planning Committee had used to screen Clarion and other firms considered for the project. "The people we talked to were not unhappy with the work that had been done," he said.
Nancy Workman asked whether Walden could provide examples of some Clarion success stories. He mentioned working with community associations in Chapel Hill that were facing challenges related to demographic change, and working with the town of Clemmons to protect the historical areas of the community that were being threatened by development.
Ron Workman wondered whether Freiert had asked CAS president John Stone about other CAS communities that have undertaken a Vision and Master Planning Process.
Feiert replied that he had asked for input from CAS. Stone said most of the communities that CAS manages have not undertaken a planning process; some still have a developer involved who is essentially providing the vision and planning. St. James Plantation has been involved in some planning work, he added. Freiert said Stone was supportive of the West Side's involvement in a planning process.
Is now the time?
"I have to say I really do believe we need long range planning," former SLWLA President Mary Ann Fewkes said. "And I do believe we need a vision plan."
However, Fewkes suggested that the present might not be the best time to undertake the planning process. Internally, several major projects are already in the works; and, externally, the widening of NC Highway 211 will soon be completed and the 2014 Men's and Women's US Opens will likely bring a large number of visitors to Seven Lakes West.
"We have things to do now -- the mailhouse, repairing the dams and roads -- I think 2015 would be the time to bring in an outside firm," Fewkes said.
Bill Streit, who noted he had moved to Seven Lakes West "before the roads were paved," said "Almost everything the developers did was on the cheap. The roads were on the cheap, the dam was on the cheap. We have a lot of things to correct that are not right. I applaud the Board for working on the roads . . . . The first thing we ought to do is get our roads and our dams in first-class condition. Those are the things that we need right now."
Questions about process
Freiert mentioned in his presentation that the planning process would involve gathering a steering committee of twelve to fifteen residents representing various constituencies within the community. Carmela Chase asked "How are you going to go about accomplishing that? How do you propose to get representation for the community?"
"We don't have a game plan on that," Freiert said. "That will be one of the very first things that we would be involved in. We have to solicit participation . . . . There is no predetermined plan at this point."
Expressing support for having a plan, Max Foley asked, "Is there anything that can hold the Board to that plan in the future?
"It is a great question," Freiert replied. "How do we compel the Board to do what's in the plan? As you point out, the simple answer is that you can't compel them . . . . If we are successful in putting something together that is the community's consensus of what it should be, I think it is persuasive to future Boards."
Bill Berger asked whether someone was taking notes on the meeting and whether the comments would be available for other landowners to review on the website. Freiert said the session was being recorded, and he would use that recording to prepare a summary of the meeting for the Board that would also be posted on the website. He noted that The Times would also likely be reporting on comments made at the meeting.
Fred Allen asked how the plan would be changed in the future. "That is part of the output of the planning process," Freiert said. "That is one of the deliverables that we have asked Clarion to develop. We have not predetermined that."
"Every plan that we have done addresses that point," Walden added. "There is the vision, the goals, the expectations -- and, if new conditions arise, how that will be handled."
Jim Krisner said he was in favor of having a plan for the community, but skeptical of paying an outside firm to help develop it. "It is a good idea to have a plan," he said. " The question is how do we get that. I would vote 'Yes' we need a plan. But 'No' we don't need to pay $40,000 for it."
Wrap-up: More Opportunities for input
"We have heard from some tonight: 'I like it just like it is.' Others are saying that it must change," Freiert said. He explained that the purpose of developing a vision and master plan is to navigate the territory between those two poles -- to determine "what we as a group think our future should be."
The completion of the NC 211 widening and the 2014 US Opens are "a great opportunity to begin marketing the community in a way that makes it understood and attractive to the folks who are going to descend on the county," he added.
Noting that the community has very limited acreage that can be used for public spaces, Freiert asked, "What if the Board walked in one day and said that we'd like to buy that twenty acres down the road for the future. Where does that fit in? Why does that make any sense?" A vision and master plan would help answer those questions.
Finally, Freiert explained that the cost of the planning process was not included in the current year's operating budget because that would have made it seem like a done deal -- like the Board had already decided to move forward with the project without first gathering community input. He explained that the cost of the study would come from capital reserve funds.
SLWLA members who desire to make their opinions on the matter known are invited to submit them in a variety of ways: through the SLWLA website, via email to any Board member, through a phone call or face-to-face conversation with Board members, or in person during the public comment segment of the July 24 or August 14 meetings of the Board of Directors.
