It was great seeing so many Rockland folks out at the parish hall on January 8! The discussion was lively and generated wonderful feedback. It is clear that residents take great pride in their community and want to protect the special aspects of life in Rockland.
Here’s a recap of what folks were asked to discuss in several small groups. The Alliance will compile what we heard and report out at our second meeting on February 26 to make sure we heard right. Please RSVP if you can make it February 26!
First – Introductions
To make sure everyone in each group knew how the others were connected to Rockland we asked folks to share:
✧ Their name
✧ Their profession or community role(s)
✧ Their story
~~ If long-time resident, tell a story about how you ended up in Rockland or your family/ancestors.
~~ If recent addition, share how you ended up in Rockland and your expectations.
Second – Maps
We asked each group to cluster around a map of the area and identify and describe:
✧ Treasured places: those special or cherished features including buildings, natural features, neighborhoods, green spaces, landscapes, views, historic resources, etc. that make Rockland a great place to live and that distinguish it from other places.
✧ Please Protect: features, areas or places that residents and stakeholders want to see conserved or protected from incompatible change (such as land uses that create undue impacts on surrounding properties or structures and uses that are out of scale or not in character with existing uses) in the future.
✧ Pursue Cautiously: areas or features that community residents and stakeholders want to see upgraded, improved or where careful improvements or changes might be desired.
✧ Strengthen Community and Connections: identify where it might be possible and desirable to improve or strengthen connections and community (church, park, community picnic, etc?).
And then we asked the group to come to agreement on the boundaries for Rockland, where, geographically speaking, we would focus our work in the next two meetings.
Third – Thinking about the future
We asked each group to discuss:
✧ What they would like to see more of in the community
✧ What they would like less of or not at all
✧ What would they like to envision seeing in Rockland
…that we could start working on right now?
…that they would hope to see in 20 years?
Top photo by Mr. Wayne Chatfield-Taylor.