(May 5, 2016) Ocean City Planning Director Bill Neville was appointed to the Ocean Pines Association Comprehensive Planning Committee last Thursday.
That evening, Neville participated in his first meeting as committee member — he had been attending meetings as a guest since March.
The committee is trying to get back on track after what several members characterized as a “disastrous” meeting with the board of directors, when they discussed the comprehensive plan process.
As part of that talk, committee members also touched on the Salisbury University group BEACON, which was contracted to help create, implement and analyze a survey that would gather data for the plan.
Trying to regroup last month, Frank Daly presented the other committee members with a new outline for a comprehensive plan, borrowed from an earlier draft.
Neville, during a phone interview Friday, said the April 28 meeting was productive, and that the committee agreed it would focus, at least in the short term, on developing Daly’s outline and using it to help organize and inform questions for the eventual survey.
“The comparison that started to happen at the last meeting, where we were linking the questions and the questionnaire to trying to collect information that would help fill in the blanks on the comprehensive plan update – that was probably the best idea from the last meeting. Then last night [April 28] we were able to finish talking that through,” Neville said.
By the next meeting, May 12, Neville said the committee members should have reviewed draft questions of the survey and be ready to suggest changes or additions, “with an eye toward collecting information that could be included in the [comprehensive plan] update.”
BEACON, he said, would likely return to committee meetings in late May or early June, to work towards finalizing the survey.
“The plan would be to provide a committee report to the board in June, to confirm that the process is back on track,” Neville said.
According to Neville, it’s not unusual for a community to use public comment to gather data for a comprehensive plan.
“The reason it’s particularly useful for Ocean Pines is it compliments being able to have sort of an open house where you have people come in and you talk to them directly,” he said. “For a community where it’s hard to get a representative sample at any particular date to come in, what the questionnaire allows is to collect a broader range of information. It’s one part of the process.”
Dealing with a nebulous population is something Neville also has to account for while working on the comprehensive plan update in Ocean City.
“The advantage for both communities is that, this isn’t the first time a plan’s been put together,” he said. “It’s easier to build on a tradition of planning and systems that have already been worked out. You’re really just trying to fine tune the operation.”
Speaking of Ocean City, Neville said things were getting “back on track” there after dealing with several months of unexpected delays.
“We’re having some guest speakers come in and giving the planning commission an opportunity to speak with them,” he said. “We talked to the OCDC Director Glenn Irwin last meeting, and [Public Works Director] Hal Adkins is going to join us next to talk about all the community facilities and transportation sections in the plan.
“That’s been helpful, to sort of have the expert come in and hear what their priorities for the next 10 or 15 years are, and to have an opportunity to ask questions,” Neville continued.
“Back to Ocean Pines, that was also the theory – if we can ever get a nice, clean framework for this update, then it makes it easier to go visit one of the other advisory committees and make sure we covered everything they want to cover.”
That evening, Neville participated in his first meeting as committee member — he had been attending meetings as a guest since March.
The committee is trying to get back on track after what several members characterized as a “disastrous” meeting with the board of directors, when they discussed the comprehensive plan process.
As part of that talk, committee members also touched on the Salisbury University group BEACON, which was contracted to help create, implement and analyze a survey that would gather data for the plan.
Trying to regroup last month, Frank Daly presented the other committee members with a new outline for a comprehensive plan, borrowed from an earlier draft.
Neville, during a phone interview Friday, said the April 28 meeting was productive, and that the committee agreed it would focus, at least in the short term, on developing Daly’s outline and using it to help organize and inform questions for the eventual survey.
“The comparison that started to happen at the last meeting, where we were linking the questions and the questionnaire to trying to collect information that would help fill in the blanks on the comprehensive plan update – that was probably the best idea from the last meeting. Then last night [April 28] we were able to finish talking that through,” Neville said.
By the next meeting, May 12, Neville said the committee members should have reviewed draft questions of the survey and be ready to suggest changes or additions, “with an eye toward collecting information that could be included in the [comprehensive plan] update.”
BEACON, he said, would likely return to committee meetings in late May or early June, to work towards finalizing the survey.
“The plan would be to provide a committee report to the board in June, to confirm that the process is back on track,” Neville said.
According to Neville, it’s not unusual for a community to use public comment to gather data for a comprehensive plan.
“The reason it’s particularly useful for Ocean Pines is it compliments being able to have sort of an open house where you have people come in and you talk to them directly,” he said. “For a community where it’s hard to get a representative sample at any particular date to come in, what the questionnaire allows is to collect a broader range of information. It’s one part of the process.”
Dealing with a nebulous population is something Neville also has to account for while working on the comprehensive plan update in Ocean City.
“The advantage for both communities is that, this isn’t the first time a plan’s been put together,” he said. “It’s easier to build on a tradition of planning and systems that have already been worked out. You’re really just trying to fine tune the operation.”
Speaking of Ocean City, Neville said things were getting “back on track” there after dealing with several months of unexpected delays.
“We’re having some guest speakers come in and giving the planning commission an opportunity to speak with them,” he said. “We talked to the OCDC Director Glenn Irwin last meeting, and [Public Works Director] Hal Adkins is going to join us next to talk about all the community facilities and transportation sections in the plan.
“That’s been helpful, to sort of have the expert come in and hear what their priorities for the next 10 or 15 years are, and to have an opportunity to ask questions,” Neville continued.
“Back to Ocean Pines, that was also the theory – if we can ever get a nice, clean framework for this update, then it makes it easier to go visit one of the other advisory committees and make sure we covered everything they want to cover.”