SOUTH LONDONDERRY, Vt. – The South Londonderry Reimagining Task Force was granted by the selectboard an extension for the South Londonderry Master Plan project, funded by a Municipal Planning Grant and in collaboration with Stevens & Associates (S&A), our consultants. The task force aims to ensure community participation and successful project completion within the originally intended scope before 2025.
The project commenced with Stevens in early spring 2024, with the initial phase/walk-around focusing on the general site and analyzing challenges and opportunities.
The first community meeting was on April 24, publicized through social media, posters, a posted agenda, and online announcements, which resulted in an excellent community turnout. The creative atmosphere was positive, informed, and productive; the residents shared their concerns, ideas, and visions for South Londonderry’s future. Feedback was collected on maps, with assets, constraints, and suggestions indicated.
S&A developed three initial concepts, incorporating high-level visionary ideas and designing more immediately achievable projects. Feedback from the community has been and will be instrumental in refining these concepts. These conceptual plans will evolve through a robust research and development phase. Efforts are ongoing to engage key town partners, including VTrans, VTDEC, EPA, and GMP, to integrate their input into the master plan.
With our extension now into the fall, there will be a schedule of additional community engagement activities/committee meetings, leading up to our next full community meeting with Stevens & Associates in mid-late September, enabling us as residents to conduct further outreach, including creating enhanced and informative publicity through flyers, posters, and social media to engage South Londonderry community members as well as greater Londonderry; developing independent, smaller committees and public meetings to gather more comprehensive community input (these meetings will happen in mid-late August and early September, then continue into the late fall); continuing with ongoing collaboration with town partners to ensure all perspectives are considered; gathering information about our historic district designation, performing a building inventory, and developing a status report; researching the status of the Route 100 bridge at the town center, of interest to town residents; looking into a Sidewalk Feasibility Study, requested by residents; performing outreach to local business owners; and gathering information.
Mimi and Emmett will keep you posted about all future meetings. There was some confusion at our first meeting about the community vs. committee designations. As the information gathering develops, community members will have the opportunity to break down into smaller committee groups to research various ideas should the topic pique their curiosity. Please contact Mimi or Emmett if you want to work on some topic, including those above, in more depth.
Mimi can be reached at maryadamslines@gmail.com, and Emmett can be reached at anjalifarmvt@gmail.com.
In the Stevens & Associates Reimagining Master Plan for South Londonderry, our goal is to create flexible scenarios to accommodate growth, meet resident needs, and attract new businesses. The Master Plan is not final and can be adjusted as needed. By listening to residents, we will develop a comprehensive plan that can serve as a point of departure for future changes as the town grows. We are focusing on a village center that promotes walkability, traffic calming, and connectivity; that covers the wastewater study area, the historic district, and the mixed-use town center; and promotes existing businesses and residential properties and our housing needs. The gradual development will be done in small stages, funded through grants and private investment. Building our business community will strengthen our business tax base.
We welcome everyone to be a part of and collaborate in this thrilling reimagining process with Stevens & Associates. These professionals will help you envision the possibilities.