Durham First Selectman Laura Francis Seeks Community's Help with 'Call to Action'

DURHAM, CT — In an effort to motivate Durham residents to consider volunteering to help the town achieve recent goals, First Selectman Laura Francis last week issued a "Call to Action" in the form of a letter to the community on the town's website and other media.

The letter zeroes in on the town's recently adopted Plan of Conservation and Development, a meticulously crafted "living document, designed to help shepherd Durham through projects and proposals that impact the commumity.

"The PoCD represents a high level, broad-brush approach to municipal planning designed to promote coordinated development," wrote Francis in the letter, the text of which is below. "It is a guidance tool for the Planning and Zoning Commission. The recently adopted plan was prepared by the commission with input from many of you through public comments in meetings and workshops, online surveys and a public 'charrette' which was a series of interactive exercises intended to solicit your opinions on the future development of our town. Hundreds of you participated."

Below is the text of the letter:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” ~ Margaret Mead

Dear Durham Residents,

This Town of Durham GovCast is being sent to you as a Call to Action not only because I agree with the above quote, but because our community depends on volunteers for so much, including emergency services, town government and other quality of life amenities.

Last month the Durham Planning and Zoning Commission adopted an updated Plan of Conservation and Development Plan (PoCD). View the document on our website. The PoCD represents a high level, broad-brush approach to municipal planning designed to promote coordinated development. It is a guidance tool for the Planning and Zoning Commission. The recently adopted plan was prepared by the commission with input from many of you through public comments in meetings and workshops, online surveys and a public “charrette” which was a series of interactive exercises intended to solicit your opinions on the future development of our town. Hundreds of you participated.

The plan consists of 11 chapters addressing topics such as population and housing, transportation, historic district, environmental protection and conservation, economic development, community facilities, emergency services, agriculture, energy and energy conservation, and land use. After each chapter there is a list of goals that the town should consider relative to the above topics. Some of the goals are rather general in nature, but many are actionable and worthy of attention. I have extrapolated the goals into a single document. View the document on our website.

After reading the list of goals, you probably would conclude that any implementation would involve town officials, town departments, boards and commissions and some sort of approval process. Your conclusion would be correct but not complete. We also need your participation. I believe there is great power in gathering a group of interested people and putting them to work on a common goal. Narrowly focused task forces, made up of committed stakeholders, can push a goal forward in an a highly efficient manner and be a perfect complement to the aforementioned elected and appointed officials and town departments. We’ve seen proof of that most recently with the Town Green Revitalization Task Force and the Roadside Maintenance Task Force.

So, here is my Call to Action. Please read the Goals document. Then read the PoCD for context for those goals. If you find something in which you are particularly interested and/or in which you have specific expertise, please contact my office at lfrancis@townofdurhamct.org. Let’s see if we can get that small group of thoughtful and committed citizens together and complete some of the goals on our list.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Laura Francis
First Selectman