A pair of community events next week will give residents a chance to engage with officials of Strong Towns.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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A follow-up major engagement session in the city’s “Strong Towns” action lab has been changed to two community events next week, the city announced Monday.
The effort, led by U.S.-based urban planning group Strong Towns, debuted in Medicine Hat last winter with an event in the Esplanade Theatre and followup meetings with developers and industry stakeholders.
At that point action teams were formed to discuss urban planning, operations, transportation and tax assessment in the vain of lowering costs, offering more flexibility and crediting pilot programs to encourage business development at lower cost to the municipality and service levels.
Next week, officials from the group will discuss some of the principles with the public on Tuesday, June 13 (7-0 p.m. at The Yard, of Third Street downtown), and Wednesday, June 14 (1-2:30 p.m. at Medicine Hat Public Library). Registration via the city’s “shape your city” website is encouraged, but not required.
“We’re seeing how much people appreciate the opportunity to participate in a conversation about Strong Towns, so we want to refocus our efforts to generate more of these opportunities,” Rochelle Pancoast, managing director of strategy and analysis, said in a release.
Municipal officials will also meet with Strong Towns consultants over the two days.
“A big part of this two-year project is math,” said Mayor Linnsie Clark. “Methodically analyzing our long-term infrastructure liabilities both now and as new infrastructure is proposed, needs to become automatic. This ongoing analysis will help us to secure the financial health of our municipality and keep tax rates manageable in the long term.”
