The City of Edmonds’ efforts to develop a city strategic plan moves to the next phase March 14 and 19, when the public is invited to participate in a community-wide conversation known as a charrette.

These conversations are a followup to a series of focus group sessions held in January and February with 18 different subject/interest groups involving 80 representatives of community organizations and institutions. The focus groups were organized as a way for the general public and representatives from a variety of groups to share opinions and identify priorities and issues of concern. They included people representing youth and senior organizations, service clubs, environmental groups, parks/recreation and arts groups, transportation and governmental entities, development community, business owners and entities within the Downtown/Waterfront, Westgate, Five Corners, Highway 99, Firdale and Perrinville business districts.

The focus group sessions identified a number of issues or priorities that should be further discussed in the strategic planning process. The two-hour public charrette — or brainstorming workshop — will be conducted with interested citizens who will help identify some of the higher-priority issues within the community.  Examples include: redevelopment of the downtown waterfront and Highway 99 activity areas; city governance and fiscal strategies to fund essential services and desirable community amenities; economic development and marketing of the city and expanding art related attractions.

Ideas obtained from citizens during each charrette will be used to help identify and develop community priorities and strategic policies, performance measures and work programs.

Meeting room size limits the number of people that can attend the charrettes, so the city needs to know who is coming. If you, your family or friends are interested, call Cindi Cruz at 425-775-7724 or send an email to StrategicPlan@EdmondsWA.gov to sign up for either charrette date. Space will be reserved for you and the city will email you agenda materials prior to the session.  The March 14 charrette will be in the Edmonds Conference Center (Fourth Avenue and Bell Street) and the March 19 charrette will be in the Library Plaza Meeting Room (650 Main St.).

The City is still seeking citizen opinions using mail-back and Internet surveys. To date, it has received surveys from 590 resident adults, 214 business owners, 312 retail customers, 70 employees, and 32 young adults. Links to Strategic Planning and Visioning surveys can be found here.