Beaverdam Community Association Planning Committee December 4, 2013 Meeting Notes

Received from Marsha Stickford:



Item 1: Introductions: Meeting participants introduced themselves and shared where they lived and how long they had been residents of the Beaverdam area.


Item 2: Suggested Ground Rules introduced by Marsha:
* Begin and end on time
* Everyone participates
* One person speaks at a time
* No side conversations
* Listen to Understand
* Respect views of others
* Challenge ideas, not people
* Silence is agreement
* Follow through on Action Plans


Item 3: Purpose of process/what we hope to accomplish:
* A clear direction and process for bringing the community together to create an Association
* Improved communication to:
o Notify all residents
o Disseminate accurate information
* An organization that can help unify the community to address the impacts of change
* A way of helping build trust among residents and developing a structure to work together
* A unified voice to interact with local, state and federal government agencies around common interests
* Increased disaster and emergency response and preparedness
* Maintain and improve quality of life for residents of the Beaverdam Valley
* Identify and address infrastructure needs
* Building awareness and support for protecting the environment that makes the Valley such a great place to live
* Creating a place where a diverse group of community members can come together to have respectful discussions about important issues and concerns – where everyone is encouraged to listen and can expect to be heard


Item 4: Indentifying Challenges to the process:
* Keeping the process diverse and inclusive
* Making sure that no one group or special interest dominates the process or discussion
* Getting and keeping participation of residents
* Gaining consensus
* Managing community discussions so they are open to everyone
* Gauging the interest of the community to have an association
* Ensuring representation and participation both in the process to form the association and the ongoing activities of the organization
* Because of the location of the Valley, an organization will need to interact with city, county, state and federal government to address issues and concerns
* For the same reasons, determining the boundaries and membership of the association will be challenging


Item 5: What neighborhoods exist within our area? The group began the discussion of what the boundaries of the area are and brainstormed a list of existing neighborhoods and areas to reach out to. Meeting participants are going to check out the list and group areas that naturally fit together as well as identify addition areas to be included.
o Elk Mountain
o Belevdere
o The Timbers
o Creekside
o Wild Cherry/Killian Rd
o Aberdeen Meadows/Stuart Circle
o Spooks Branch/Bartrams Walk
o Beaverbrook
o Kimberly Woods
o Carter Cove
o Country Club
o Sherwood Heights
o Hills of Beaverdam
o Thoms
o Wolf Cove/Beaverdam Knoll
o Faircrest
o Beaverdam Run
o Web Cove
o Rice Branch
o Lakeview Park


Item 6: Discussion of next steps:
* Develop communication plan and tools
o Use Nextdoor
* Need to clarify boundaries - Evan Coward can help
o Word of mouth will be really effective – especially during the Holidays
* Clarify boundaries/membership
o Use access to Beaverdam Road as one identifier
o May be that it starts out as a large area that gets broken down into sub-groups
* Form 2 groups to work on 2 areas before next meeting:
o Communication
o Kick-off event


Item 7: Next meetings:
Communication Group –
Kick-off Event Planning Group –
Large Planning Group – 7:00 PM on Thursday January 23 at the Beaverdam Volunteer Fire Dept.