Lake Chelan Community Open Space Visioning group holds final meeting

CHELAN – The Lake Chelan Community Open Space Visioning group gathered Wednesday, Sept. 13 at City Hall for presentation of the implementation plan and refining of visioning statement. “The Lake Chelan Community Open Space Vision will be a comprehensive community-based vision for balancing strategic protection of open space and recreation with continued local development,” as stated on cityofchelan.us.

Amy Morris of The Trust for Public Land began by explaining several techniques and methods used to evaluate the community’s consensus on what’s important and contributes to the quality of life within the Chelan Valley. The group distributed surveys locally, to both English speaking and Spanish speaking homes, as well as throughout the community. The key results included the lake and parks being the two highest priority open space areas contributing to the local quality of life. 

Curt Soper from Chelan-Douglas Land Trust spoke and provided some insight from recent Wenatchee projects. For comparison, Soper presented the Wenatchee Foothills as a comparison for what Chelan’s open spaces and recreational areas could look like and offer.

Implementation steps for the Open Space Visioning include a series of steps:

Step A – Protecting highest priority local lands and resources

Step B – Create structure and expectations for ongoing implementation of Open Space Vision

Step C – Develop a strong communications strategy for the Open Space Vision

Step D – Incorporate Open Space vision into local planning efforts

Step E – Identify and pursue traditional and non-traditional funding sources or actions to implement the Greenprint

“There are huge benefits to protecting opens spaces,” said Morris, “it’s a huge factor in local quality of life.”