During a meeting on March 15, City Council members and the planning commission in Mason have agreed to keep the city’s small-town feel, but the addition of businesses can be seen as beneficial to the city.
The meeting featured President Jon Lynch of the Three Rivers Corporation. Lynch is a former city manager from Midland, Michigan, and was helping bring ideas regarding community engagement into the city’s master plan.
The main focus was to focus on the master plan, discuss and to new ideas for the area and finalize the Request for Proposals.
City Manager Deborah Stuart said the main focus is community engagement. While legally the plan is required, it helps the council provide a roadmap.
“ The main goal of our master plan is to set a vision and priorities for Mason for the next 20 years as well community engagement helps us strive with any decision making process we do,” said Stuart
Lynch helped focus officials’ ideas about shaping a Mason for everyone. The meeting also served as a workshop for councilmembers to get a successful master plan and engage the community in that plan.
The addition for more things regarding the youth made a presence in the meeting with two comments made by Youth Advisor Delafuente as well as Councilwoman Vogel. The comments were made to express more of the youth within the city.
Councilwoman Rita Vogel said, “Mason, while building and strengthening the entire community, Mason’s demographic is young. According to our Parks and Rec survey, only 13% of Mason residents are 65 and older. We need to embrace and respect the energy and momentum of younger generations. Youth engagement is about creating opportunities for youth to express themselves, voice their ideas, and provide input for projects or programs.”
Plans of renovating the area behind Mason High School as well as areas adjacent to US-127 were discussed.
The Request for Proposal’s current timeline has a kickoff in May of 2021, with then having community engagement taking place in the fall of 2021 along with a draft proposal.