Something special is taking place in Deerfield, something that doesn’t appear to be happening anywhere else in our region. People representing the town’s more than 20 boards and committees are meeting together on a regular basis to talk about the town’s future.
This is such a simple idea (some might even call it an obvious one) that it’s hard to imagine why the Connecting Community Initiative (CCI) didn’t happen sooner.
But when you consider the realities small towns face — so much to do while relying on mostly volunteer boards and operating on extremely tight budgets — it’s not surprising that routine daily obligations often overshadow the need for creating unified goals.
Like many good ideas, CCI has humble roots. At one of its weekly meetings late last year, Deerfield’s Ad Hoc Senior Housing Committee was discussing the best possible locations for developing affordable housing for older adults.
To best serve aging residents, the committee knew the housing should be located within walking distance of downtown South Deerfield; near a new senior/community center, shops, restaurants, Tilton Library, Town Hall, and the new town park, among other resources.
Next, recognizing that various town projects in the village center were under consideration, they began attending meetings of other boards to talk about the need for affordable senior housing. They talked with the Selectboard, the Finance Committee, the Community Preservation Committee, the Town Buildings Advisory Committee, and several others.
Clearly, a lot of people were hard at work trying to imagine individual projects that would shape Deerfield’s future. But by and large, these boards were working in isolation.
The simple solution: Create a forum where representatives from each of the town’s existing boards meet regularly, exchange information, and work together on a shared vision for Deerfield’s future. And thus the Connecting Community Initiative was born.
In just a half-dozen meetings, the Selectboard and CCI team have reached broad agreement on which projects are most important to consider while developing this vision for a vibrant downtown.
Denise Mason, chair of the CCI team, presented the concept to state Sen. Jo Comerford and state Rep. Natalie Blais during a meeting on Feb. 9. Paying for this vision will require lots of outside money, everyone acknowledged.
Citing CCI’s mission statement, Mason explained that the goal is “a centralized municipal campus as a dynamic gathering place for all town residents” that would link “our civic buildings and community services while breathing new life into our architectural treasures.”
Mason highlighted several main project ideas, among them rehabilitating the former grammar school building into a new home for Deerfield’s municipal offices; building a new senior/community center; expanding Tilton Library; constructing senior affordable housing; renovating the town common; and redeveloping the so-called Leary Lot to provide parking for a more vital business district.
“Deerfield is just breathtaking in your vision and the excellence of your presentation and your ideas,” Comerford said, promising to set up a planning meeting with Deerfield to identify state and federal funding sources. Blais echoed those sentiments, adding: “We view you as partners and hope you view us in the same way.”
Funding is already in hand to pay for several projects. Deerfield will use some of its federal American Rescue Plan Act money to pay for the Leary Lot project, for example. And voters approved setting aside $2 million from Deerfield’s Community Preservation Act fund to pay for the planned North Main Street Park.
To move other elements of this nascent vision from dream to reality, Deerfield needs a lot of things to go right, not least of which is securing the lion’s share of the funding from federal and state sources.
The CCI team has scheduled a meeting on Feb. 17 at 6:30 p.m. for an informational presentation and to seek input from Deerfield residents.
As these discussions about the future continue to unfold, the most important point to remember is that —whatever plans emerge — Deerfield’s voters get to decide.
One special thing, however, has already occurred. The Connecting Community Initiative has all the town’s boards talking and pulling together — and together, our future looks bright indeed!
Tim Hilchey is a member of the Connecting Community Initiative team, representing the Community Preservation Committee and the Conservation Commission.