And so the Master Planning begins.

Last night at the Middle School, 82 participants gathered, separated into small groups, and shared their ideas about improving Amherst’s future.

Groups were led by trained volunteer facilitators who read from scripts in order to ensure consistency. The first exercise was to envision the town in the future and imagine the places for living, working, playing, shopping and so forth. Participants spent a few minutes privately writing down thoughts and suggestions for fulfilling their view of what would make for a better Amherst. People then shared their favorite two or three ideas, which the facilitator recorded on large sheets of paper using the participants’ own words.

When asked about the potential for missing out on all the other ideas that people might have had, but didn’t have the chance or desire to share, Niels la Cour, senior planner for the town and staff liaison to the Comprehensive Planning Committee, said that the Planning Amherst Together web site will soon let people submit ideas that way as well.

The second activity was for participants to each ponder a small copy of the town map and note the places they felt were strong or weak in different areas, such as transportation and physical infrastructure. They then placed stickers identifying those strong and weak places on a large version of the map at the front of the room, and discussed the attributes of areas where multiple dots were clustered.

Every idea collected through these exercises will be saved and sorted and made accessible to the public at large. This is the data from which the final plan will be created.

At the end, participants filled out cards noting the top two ideas that they felt were identified in their session, and completed exit surveys that will allow the committee to determine how broad and diverse an array of people are attending these meetings.

That exit survey information is important, la Cour said, because if they find that there is not diverse participation across demographic groups, they will need to get that input in other ways.

“We know that there are communities out there who will not come to the meetings,” he said, citing those for whom English is a second or less-comfortable language as being difficult to draw to the gatherings. “We know we’ll have to reach out to them.”

He said they are currently recruiting facilitators to do that sort of additional outreach.

With one of the five planned Idea Gatherings under his belt and four still to come, what is la Cour looking to tweak going forward?

“One thing we’re working on is better signs,” he said, to help people better navigate from the parking area to the specific room where the gathering starts at each location. And beyond the gatherings, he is looking to utilize the web site and the town’s GIS mapping system to help facilitate more suggestions and ideas.

“I’ve gotten a lot of good feedback from people who thought things went really well,” la Cour said. “I’d like to see more people coming, because this is the opportunity to get your ideas heard.”

Additional Idea Gatherings:

Saturday, October 14, 10 a.m.-12 noon, Amherst Regional Middle School

Wednesday, October 18, 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Jones Library Downtown

Wednesday, October 18, 7 p.m.-9 p.m., Immanuel Lutheran Church, North Amherst

Friday, October 20, 9 a.m.-11 a.m., Hampshire College-Franklin Patterson Hall

More information:

The Master Plan site: www.PlanningAmherstTOGETHER.org
The Amherst Bulletin’s special on-line Master Plan section: www.amherstbulletin.com/planning/

-- Stephanie O’Keeffe