The Peaks Island neighborhood planning committee will hold a community planning workshop on Aug. 4 from 1 to 4 PM as a way to inform the community about the progress made by the committee and get input. The workshop offers an opportunity for the Peaks Island community to help plan its future.

Peaks Islanders have been creating a neighborhood based plan for their community for the past six months. Ultimately, Peaks’ plan will be included in the City of Portland’s comprehensive plan.

Data collection about all aspects of the island community and environment has been the first step in the planning process. Thirteen volunteer teams have been working on this arduous task. The topics for investigation came from the State Planning Office guidelines and include population and demographics, marine resources, historic and architectural resources, land use patterns, transportation, recreation and open space, public facilities, economy, relations with the City of Portland, water and other natural resources, agricultural and forestry resources, and housing.

During the Aug. 4 workshop, each task team will present the data related to its subject, at dialogue tables staffed by the task team members. Community members are encouraged to move from table to table, making suggestions and raising concerns about each subject.

The workshop is an extension of the guiding principle of the neighborhood planning process: include the public in the development of the vision for their neighborhood.

The first step toward that end was the six-page comprehensive Peaks Island Community survey, which was mailed to everyone on the island and was extremely successful, with an over 55 percent return rate.

The planning workshop marks another important stage. During the workshop all community members will have a chance to include their voices and have their views heard. Chris Hoppin, a member of the planning group and a year round island resident, believes that “the community workshop is the best opportunity for Peaks Islanders, both summer and full time, to voice their opinions about the present and future of our island.” All of the community comments and suggestions will be compiled and presented to the community, along with a draft of the neighborhood plan, during the fall. The final neighborhood plan will be presented to the City Planning Department at the end of the year.

The members of the planning process come from many different island organizations, but mainly they are a group of neighbors concerned about the future of their neighborhood. Many share in Chris Hoppin’s sentiment, “if we don’t act to chart our future, someone else will” and have seized this opportunity with the hopes that many of their neighbors will join them to help plan the future of a great community.

Nathan Gray is an Island Institute Fellow based on Peaks Island.