Healdsburg by The Voices of Healdsburg - July 2018
As Summer eases into Healdsburg, residents are thinking about more than family gatherings, Prune Packer baseball games, visits to Memorial Beach, and even the pending completion of our famous (infamous?) Roundabout! We are very excited about an upcoming August visit by a team of outside experts to help develop a vision and blueprint for our City through 2040.
Healdsburg is honored to be one of a handful of cities across the U.S. awarded a 2018 Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT), part of an American Institute of Architects (AIA) program to help communities develop a vision for a sustainable future, and create a realistic and attainable roadmap to get there. Healdsburg’s assessment will take place August 13th through 15th, 2018.Nine experts from across the United States will be in Healdsburg to engage in an intensive 3-day assessment to accomplish these goals.
The SDAT Steering Committee, comprised of over three dozen community members, worked diligently to provide the AIA preliminary visitors access to critical issues as expressed by over 120 Healdsburg residents in five separate gatherings in April. The Steering Committee is continuing to line up venues and resources for their August visit. City leaders and elected officials have given their full support and endorsement to this effort.
During these SDAT conversations, the team will gather information to create a set of proposals for Healdsburg to consider in its future planning. In addition to “issues,” the AIA asks a vital rhetorical question worth considering:“How do you maintain the values and character of your community?” The AIA urged Healdsburg to go into this discovery process without expectations; to be flexible, to let go and permit the team to come here without preconceived agendas.
The SDAT team is holding two community-wide meetings at the HHS gym. The purpose of the initial gathering on August 13th at 6:00 pm is to listen to and learn from the community. On their final day, August 15th, also at 6:00 pm at the HHS Gym, the team will share their recommended directions and solutions for “A Sustainable Healdsburg 2040.” It will be these recommended programs—exciting directions and solutions for the City—that our community will be able to embrace and bring to fruition. The community is invited and encouraged to attend these potentially history-making events.
SDAT is a once-in-a-generation opportunity!
Healdsburg participated in a similar effort with the AIA in 1982, which forever changed the direction of this City and its people. Thirty-six remarkable years later, this really is a once-in-a-generation opportunity. To learn more and participate in Healdsburg’s future, visit www.Healdsburg-SDAT.org
