Envision Kentville hits the streets

What do you want for Kentville’s future? The Envision Kentville project is moving from town hall to the streets this summer to ask that question.

Town sustainability coordinator Brennan Vogel, along with two members of the Nova Scotia Youth Conservation Corps, will be knocking on doors over the summer to survey residents about a sustainable future. “We want to find out where we would like to be in 20 years. That’s the essence of the project,” he said.

The survey is part of Kentville’s Integrated Community Sustainability Planning (ICSP) process, focusing on four pillars of community sustainability: economic, environmental, social and cultural.

Tupon Tajirin and Lucas Brehaut shared copies of the survey with Kentville marketgoers July 15. “We’re starting out with the survey,” Brehaut said, “taking draft versions of the survey and telling people about the phase one report.” “The project is about asking the general public about what they want to keep about Kentville,” Tajirin added.

The local pair is also working for Kings Regional Development Association (formerly Kings CED) and Kings Transit through the NSYCC program administered by the Nova Scotia Department of Environment.

Phase one complete

The door-to-door campaign is a continuation of the community consultations Vogels facilitated in the spring. During phase one, input was gathered through an open house and four consultations involving approximately 200 citizens.

Vogels calls the process so far an example of “vibrant community interaction and an opportunity for civic discourse.”

Results of those discussions, released July 7, identified numerous issues and challenges relevant to sustainable development. Two key assets identified are educational capacity, with two post-secondary institutions nearby and the resulting social, cultural and economic spinoffs, and potential for increased active transportation.

A vision statement created by the project was endorsed by council July 15: “Kentville is a healthy, vibrant, integrated and complete community where citizens can live, work and play in an environment that supports a high quality of life.”

The broad statement is designed to generate “creative tensions,” Vogels said. “We’re not there yet, but wouldn’t it be great if we could be?”

Survey says…

Vogels says the next step is to find out what residents think of the phase one report, priorities and vision statement through a 10-15 minute survey on doorsteps of the town.

With Kentville’s population of 5,850, the survey needs 390 respondents to be a reliable measure of public opinion, meaning Vogels, Tajirin and Brehaut are knocking on many doors. Community stakeholders will also be polled.

Proportional sampling of residents’ age and gender is also necessary. “Intergenerational equity is an important factor because it’s not just about quality of life today, but also for our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren,” Vogels said.

Vendor Monica Cobb answered the survey for the team during the test run. The Kentville resident thinks the personal approach was preferable to a phone survey, noting, “I hate doing (surveys), but I did this one. It was pretty good.”

Hopefully, the results will show what Kentville residents value and how different variables relate to community and personal well-being. Vogels says this information is essential to providing “a blueprint for future development. “The draft report should be completed by the end of September and the entire process will be done for the March 2010 provincial deadline, which must be met to ensure the municipality receives gas taxes.”

Kentville is not alone in the project, he pointed out. Not only are all municipalities required to engage in the process to receive gas tax funds, “sustainability is not going to be achieved in isolation as the town, but as a region.” Kings RDA will use the results of all regional municipalities’ ICSPs to inform future projects.

For more information on Envision Kentville, see http://town.kentville.ns.ca/townhall_sustainability.cfm