Athens Tomorrow

-A Town Hall Meeting-

Who:   63 members of the broader Athens community    

When:  Thursday, February 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Where: Joshua Bates Centre

Why:  To develop a vision of Athens in the future, and to identify potential projects that might be pursued in support of economic and community development

Step # 1:  Core Values and Unique Character of Athens in 2004

Participants in the town hall meeting were asked to identify specific characteristics and core values of Athens, which help to define the community as a special place in which to live and work.

• Safety/size of village
• Great place to raise a family
• Personable people

• Natural Beauty of Area
• Lakes and rivers
• Biosphere Reserve

• Wide array of services (given the size of the community)
• Churches
• Mapleview Lodge
• Library
• Recreation facilities for children

• Volunteerism and community spirit
• Quality of Life
• Clean community
• Theatre

Step # 2:  Athens in 2020

Participants were then asked to describe the Athens they would like to see in the year 2020.  A number of themes emerged:

• Education
• the community would continue to be served by both elementary and secondary schools

• Economic Development-Healthy local economy
• tourism would be a key economic driver, capitalizing on the ‘natural’ assets of the region
• the development of ecotourism
• improved accommodations
• Communities in Bloom
• Murals
• Sufficient parking/services for tourists
• Heritage signage

• the main street would be vibrant, supporting a variety of commercial enterprises—new commercial space would be developed
• overall economy tied to healthy living

·        Recreation

• the community will feature a variety of recreational facilities and programming  (including a pool) able to meet the needs of the entire population (youth and seniors included)

• Planning & Smart Growth
• the community will have grown in a manner that has clearly respected its ‘natural assets.’
• Creative solution to landfill issue
• Model EcoPerth
• there will be a healthy mix of housing types available to meet the needs of the entire community (youth, seniors, all economic classes)

• Infrastructure
• reliable, safe water & sewer services
• buried infrastructure to support streetscape

Step # 3:  Potential Projects (Strategies) for Moving Forward

After assessing where they were as a community and where they would like to go, the participants offered ideas for potential projects to help move their vision for Athens forward.  After the potential projects were identified, participants were asked to identify their personal priorities.  Each person was given three stickers (red-3 points, blue-2 points, and green-1 point).  They were asked to put the red sticker beside the project that was their personal top priority.  The blue sticker was for their second priority, and the green sticker was to represent their third priority. 

The following table summarizes the results from Step 3: