MISSION STATEMENT: "Tomorrow's Vision" will create a plan that will define our unique identity, assure quality of life, and make Green Cove Springs a premier 21st century city that reflects our traditional values, natural features, and historic characteristics.
Introduction
In 2004, the Green Cove Springs City Council embarked on a visioning process to determine what the city should be in the future. The process began with the City Council reviewing goals of previous City Councils. The City Council then appointed a Vision Committee to chart the future of Green Cove Springs. The Vision Committee worked on developing goals for the future of Green Cove Springs and presented the goals to stakeholders at a community wide meeting. After the goals were ranked the Vision Committee developed actions items to assure implementation of the goals.
Previous Goals
In 2004, the City Council began the visioning process by reviewing results of previous goal setting sessions. The City Council reviewed the goals to determine if the goals were had been accomplished, were still relevant, or were not relevant. Table 1 contains the list of goals after the review by the City Council. The goals were divided up into three general groups; infrastructure, quality, and land development and planning.
2005: Johna Hayes talks about Tomorrow's Vision -1500 people attending Christmas on Walnut St.
The City Council discovered that many of the earlier goals of other planning and visioning sessions had been completed. These included:
• Paving streets • Completing an “As Built” water and sewer map • Expansion of water and sewer service • An Agreement with the Clay County Utilities agency • Development of a Streets Improvement Plan • Design of a new City Hall for Green Cove Springs • Consolidation of the Fire Department with the County • Central Business District regulations • Master Plan for Spring Park • One-Stop Permitting process in the city • Improvements to the Development Review process
The goals that were considered to still be relevant to the City Council in 2005 were than divided into eight ‘Issue Areas’. The City Council members ranked the Issues Areas based on the priority of importance. The following are the issue areas in ranked order:
• Redevelopment • Planning and Land Development • Infrastructure • Economic Development • Recreation and Open Space • Annexation Issues • Intergovernmental Coordination • Adjoining Development
This early ‘plan of action’ which began in the spring resulted in long lists of challenges and areas of interest to be considered by the Visioning Committee members.
So here we are 6 years into a 20 year plan. What is our status now?
