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Board members with the Community Improvement Corp. of Clark County discussed a proposal Thursday to develop a community-wide strategic plan that was described as a more-in depth version of the Greater Springfield Moving Forward initiative.
The plan would help local leaders identify key projects and needs for Clark County, as well as its cities and townships, and allocate resources accordingly, said Horton Hobbs, vice president of economic development for the CIC. Local entities currently don’t have a single plan to help direct investment, Hobbs said.
“This is about defining the future for our community and not letting it be defined by budget restrictions,” he said.
The CIC would likely hire a consultant to develop the plan and would act as the lead agency.
“We haven’t embraced planning our future proactively enough as a community to collectively decide how we will develop and how we will grow,” Hobbs said. “Until and unless we have that active dialogue our ability to maximize our potential will be held back.”
Local leaders already collected a lot of data on the priorities of residents through the Greater Springfield Moving Forward Initiative, Springfield Mayor Warren Copeland said. That project, started about five years ago, gathered input from residents and focused on five areas, including workforce development and green spaces, to make the region more attractive for residents and businesses.
That project has made significant progress in several areas, he said.
“I see this as more of a task of trying to look at implementation in a targeted way,” Copeland said.
Hobbs said he sees the need for a new strategic plan as well.
“It’s kind of like a reboot of Greater Springfield moving forward,” Hobbs said. “It’s almost like a version 2.0, where we’re taking all that input and the progress that’s taken place, but this is taking it to a more defined level with specific projects married together for a community-wide strategic development plan.”
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