Do you want growth and development that benefits all the citizens in your community? Are you looking for safe, walkable places for people in all stages of life - families, children, and senior citizens? Good jobs and attractive places to live, work, and play? Smart Growth is the new term that communities all over the United States are using to protect and enhance the natural environment while strengthening their economies. And here in the City of Centerville and Washington Township, Create the Vision is addressing that.

Create the Vision is the first-ever joint Comprehensive Plan for Centerville and Washington Township. It was adopted in June of 2004 by the City Council and the Township Trustees as a guide for development in the community over the next 20 years. A Comprehensive Plan is a guiding policy document for all land use and development regulations in a community. It provides long-term direction about how and where growth should occur.

Create the Vision calls for reusing previously developed land, providing more housing and transportation choices, preserving critical natural areas and developing vibrant places to live, work, shop and play. When properly implemented, Smart Growth policies and techniques can protect air, water, and land resources and make communities more attractive to businesses, residents, and visitors.

If these types of things interest you, then I invite you to join me and the Create the Vision Implementation Task Force at our Open House on June 14, 2006. The public is invited to this free event that will be held at 7:00 p.m. at Rec West, located next to the Washington Township Recreation Center at 965 Miamisburg-Centerville Road in Dayton.

Our Keynote Speaker will be Sylvia Lovely who serves as the President of NewCities Institute and CEO of the Kentucky League of Cities. Ms. Lovely grew up in Dayton and is now a nationally recognized champion of cities and the power of people to create positive change at the grassroots level.

Ms. Lovely is also the author of “New Cities in America: The Little Blue Book of Big Ideas.” Ms. Lovely notes that in the pursuit of happiness, too many Americans seem to have taken a detour – feeling disempowered and disinterested in the democratic process. Voter turnout is often sparse, civic engagement is down, and a general feeling that government is not responsive to citizen’s needs is widespread.

Ms. Lovely believes that it is time to build a better world and that begins when people get involved in their communities and regain a sense that they can make a difference.

There is a group of 14 dedicated, citizen volunteers who serve on the Create the Vision Implementation Task Force with the belief that they can make a difference. They meet in subcommittee groups to form recommendations for the city and township. They analyze each strategy in Create the Vision and provide ideas, suggestions and input about its implementation. They were appointed in June of 2004 and have been meeting every month since then to work on this.

At the Open House on June 14th, the two Co-Chairs of the Implementation Task Force, Brooks Compton and Tom Zobrist will make a presentation that will update the public on Centerville and Washington Township’s progress in implementing Create the Vision. I hope you will be able to attend. I believe you will find it very informative.

Thank you for joining me this month in the Create the Vision column. I am the Project Manager for Create the Vision and if you missed last month’s column, you may read it on our website at www.createthevision.org.