GAINESVILLE - The man who will conduct the study said Thursday he expects to wrap up the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce's "visioning" plan by next summer.
Otis White, President of Civic Strategies, said prior to an appearance before the chamber board of directors that the real work will begin next month and he hopes to have it finished next June.
White said it will be a "very intensive, citizen-driven" process, which has proven successful elsewhere because it involves input from such a wide range of people.
"We're going to work hard to get hundreds of citizens involved in describing the community they want to live, work and play in."
The project, plans for which were unveiled earlier this year by the chamber, is aimed at finding out what Hall countians want their community to be like many years down the road. White said Thursday it will focus first on what people in the community are looking for, not what some expert may think is best.
"We begin with the citizens and they describe what they want and then we ask (them) and the experts to come together to figure out how to get there," he said.
White said going to the experts first often leads to findings that sit on a shelf in the corner of an office and gather dust, with no action ever taken. In many of those cases, he said, "there is no genuine public support for many of their ideas."
Saturday
March 8th, 2025
9:20PM
