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MINUTES
BTCSD Greenbelt Stewardship Plan
Page 1 of 10
PUBLIC MEETING - August 27, 2005
Brooktrails Community Center - 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Presented by the Recreation, Greenbelt & Conservation Committee
Facilitated by Brian Weller
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Brian Weller opened the meeting at 9:12 a.m. He quickly briefed the audience on the progress to date and the incorporation of input from previous public meetings into the current draft stewardship plan. He conducted perceptual exercises demonstrating how different people see different parts of any situation, and discussed the factors involved in forming concepts and visions of a future goal ("desired outcome"), and the need for clarity around that future goal as the key to reaching it despite the fact that often other factors will intervene as the future vision manifests and change it. Complicating this are people's tendency to not take action except in an actual crisis, and people's anxiety about change. He clarified that the task of the meeting was to bring out and include as many different points of view as possible.
Audience members discussed their reasons for living in Brooktrails and their desired future outcome. Several people commented on the natural beauty of the greenbelt environment, the trees and wildlife, and on their desire to live with like-minded neighbors. Don Morris said he would like to see consensus on what the desired outcome is. Mr. Weller noted that the question of exactly how detailed the desired outcome should be is very important. Mr. Weller read a letter to the editor published in the Willits News in April 2005 which commented about people moving to specific environments, such as a forest, and then complaining about the natural features of those environments. Mr. Weller talked about risk-taking, about the balancing of safety with quality of life, and how big a risk residents are prepared to take. Each household would need to do their bit to empower the "we" the whole community. Sarah Skyler said that she considered "we" to include the creatures and the plants; she felt there is always some compromise and risk to secure the environment for truly the "we" everything that is there.
Mr. Weller noted that an assessment of where we are was made some months ago [CFIP report], and the difference between what we've got and what we want will be represented by the plan. The public meetings are milestones in the journey toward the final plan. A huge part of the situation is money: how much and where to get it.
Mr. Weller talked about tension/resolution of problems and commented that if the future plan is well-rounded and well-detailed, then the pull of the future is greater than the pull of the past, and the resolution will go toward the future. If the pull of the past is greater than the pull of the future, resolution will resolve toward the past, and nothing happens. This causes people to wander blindly into the future and deal with the unexpected. He said the first question when trying to get a group of people to move from the present into a desired future is whether there is really a "we." Those who show up tend to be the ones who guide the future.
Sara Skyler commented that the audience was a diverse group, but that each of them would probably express opinions that are shared by quite a few other residents of the community.
Mr. Weller noted that he had found three factors which needed to be lined up to guarantee success. Instead of reacting to a crisis, the choice would be to create a future. The three factors are: want to (motivation), know how to (time and trouble needed to learn how), and take the chance (opportunity). The most important factor is wanting to.
Chair Ziady of the Recreation, Greenbelt & Conservation Committee commented that the plan was expected to be presented to the Board of Directors in October.
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