FORWARD

Can you remember what our community was like 25 years ago? Take a moment to recall what Easton looked like in the early 1970's. Now consider all that has happened since that time. Finally, ponder what the next 25 years might bring.

That, in the very simplest of terms is what this Comprehensive Plan does. It attempts to predict various possible futures, select the most appropriate one for our Community and recommend how to achieve that future. In this sense, this Comprehensive Plan is no different from any other such Plan that has been prepared in Easton or thousands of other communities throughout the United States.

What is different about this Plan is the method used to arrive at the decisions about these futures and the steps for insuring their realization. Typically, such decisions are made by the professional planning staff or a hired consultant. Perhaps a small group of citizens, usually "blue-ribbon citizens", provide some advice and direction. In the end though, even after the required public hearings, the official growth policies of the jurisdiction as spelled out in the Plan, have been shaped by a handful of people. Perhaps as few as 20 or 30 people, including the elected officials who ultimately adopt it, have input in the Plan.

This Comprehensive Plan was quite different in that regard. Rather than a couple of dozen people determining future growth policies, this Plan has been shaped by hundreds of people. From the 35 Middle School Students who participated in an essay and poster contest, to the 60 High School seniors who participated in a series of interactive exercises, to the 150 or so people who attended two Town Planning Workshops to participate in a more extensive series of interactive exercises, and to the approximately 50 citizens, professional staff, planning and elected officials who undertook the task of digesting and refining all of this input, this plan has been shaped by nearly every facet of our community. Such involvement, known in planning jargon as Visioning, whereby the official policies relative to the future development of Easton are actually shaped by so many of those who will be a part of that future, is unprecedented in Easton, if not the Eastern Shore as a whole. It is not particularly common anywhere, although the concept is growing in popularity.

So this is the end product of this effort, a Comprehensive Plan for Easton. As you review it, if you read something that you are convinced is absolutely the wrong choice or the wrong way of realizing a right choice, take note of it and let us know, for even though the Plan contemplates Easton in 2020, we'll do it all again in five years just to make sure we're still on the right track. You are hereby invited to join us in that effort.