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Sheldon vision project moves toward first phase
Nevada Daily Mail
Jay Garrott, director and professor in the Center for Community Studies at Drury University, attended the Sheldon Community Betterment meeting Tuesday to outline the vision project and set dates for future meetings.
"We will devote six of our architecture students specifically to this project," Garrott said. "They will study the community and give a final recommendation. We're not giving you the vision; we're giving you the materials you will need to create your vision."
He stressed the importance of a community advisory committee.
"They will work directly with the students at all times and at all meetings," he said. "In other communities we've had elderly community members, businessmen, city officials and high school students. Make sure you identify and develop a very excited, committed, broadly representative group that will work on a regular basis with the class."
The group of students and the committee will also each elect a liaison who will be responsible for all communications between the groups.
"This is 100 percent collaborative effort," he said. "It's impossible for six students to come into this community without your help and tell you what your vision is. The success of this project is dependent on participation in the community. The students will put in about 2,000 man hours for you. We can put in the manpower, but we need the guidance from the community."
He added the committee's work really begins when the students finish the project.
"The committee takes the materials we've provided, reviews it, analyzes it and generates the vision for the whole community," he said. "This is a year commitment minimum."
The first responsibility of the committee will be to help with a presentation to the students on Jan. 22.
"Tell us about the history, current condition, aspirations for the city, what would you like to achieve over the semester, what are your wants and what are your needs," Garrott said. "A lot of communities will do this with pictures and a Power Point presentation. There's usually some visuals connected with it. The students will give their preferences based on your presentation."
The students are scheduled to arrive in Sheldon Jan. 25 to tour the town.
"Show us the town," he said. "Show us the historical aspects. Show us the good parts; show us the bad parts; show us where you have your dreams laid out. This might also include a trip 5 or 6 miles around the city to get a good understanding of the context. I want them to drive or walk the streets."
After an initial concept presentation by the students on March 10, the students will show their final recommendation for the future development of Sheldon on May 12.
Jeff Barber, a representative of University of Missouri Extension, also attended the meeting and shared Extension's goals with the process.
"We're interested in helping you help yourselves," Barber said. "Anything we do here, there will be that lingering question of how are we going to pay for it. Where are the people who are going to live here, work here and play here? What can we do to get them? Business and economic development work hand in hand because we've got to attract people to give us enough inertia to do what we want to do as a community."
Barber stressed the project will take time.
"It took a while to get to the point where we are in the community now," he said. "To expect that it's going to change overnight is not realistic. There's going to be a 20- to 25- year horizon for a lot of this stuff. It's going to take a while to shift the economy and develop a local robust economy."
The Sheldon Community Betterment Committee will meet Dec. 16 to develop the presentation for January.