HOLYOKE — The city of Holyoke will host three public listening sessions this fall to engage in conversations on how the city should best approach updating its Comprehensive Plan and mapping out its future.
Being updated for the first time since 1999, the Comprehensive Plan is a state-mandated document that requires Massachusetts cities and towns to maintain a plan for their long-term physical development. Through comprehensive plans, cities and towns envision their futures and pinpoint implementation pathways for achieving those aspirations.
Plans span all aspects of physical development from the types of housing available in the community to how people get around, to the community’s resilience to climate change, economic development and more.
Director of Planning and Economic Development Aaron Vega said the public listening sessions are an opportunity for the public to get involved in the process of updating the plan. Through the sessions residents can expect to learn about the process and be able to provide their own input in helping shape the vision for the future of Holyoke.
“A lot of people hear about these new technologies and new companies coming in and obviously we have a housing crisis, so people want to know what is Holyoke’s plan and this is the time to create a plan that will sort of map out our course for the next 10 to 15 years,” Vega said.
Vega added the city is committed to shaping the new comprehensive plan through engagement with residents, which is why they have locked in a series of listening sessions over the next few months.
Community Listening Session No. 1 will be on Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Holyoke High School from 5-7 p.m. The evening will begin with an open house during the first hour, followed by a presentation and discussion in the second hour.
Community Listening Session No. 2 will be on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will be a drop-in format for discussion at Heritage State Park. Community Listening Session No. 3 will be on Thursday, Nov. 21, from 5-7 p.m. with a location to be announced.
“We’re really hoping that people come out. I think under Mayor Garcia we’ve seen an increase in civic engagement and this is just another opportunity for people to come and both to learn about municipal government and how it works but also to have their voice heard on what direction they’d like to see the city go,” Vega said.
Free food featuring local restaurants and free youth activities will be provided at all listening sessions. These sessions will also be bilingual, live Spanish interpretation will be available and materials will be displayed in Spanish and English. Participants will receive free gift cards for the Holyoke Farmers’ Market.
Holyoke’s Office of Planning and Economic Development is leading the comprehensive plan update in collaboration with the Holyoke Planning Board. To support them, a team of consultant urban planners has been retained, led by Cambridge-based Agency Landscape + Planning with support from Northampton-based Cambridge Econometrics, Boston-based Nitsch engineering, and Queens-based Hive Public Space.
Several of the consulting planners are native Spanish speakers and several live in the Pioneer Valley. The city aims to complete the project in summer 2025.
Vega reiterated he and city officials hope Holyokers will share their aspirations and priorities for the future of the community at any or all of the listening sessions.
“It’s a process that many cities go through and it’s really an opportunity for engagement and I’m hoping that people will be excited about the things that are happening and learn that things take time,” Vega said. “If I could have 20 companies open tomorrow and provide 200 jobs that would be great but that’s not how it works so I think its good for the public to understand where and what direction we’re sort of focusing on.”
