Open Space District Needs Your Ideas For the Future

The organization that gave you Purisima Creek Redwoods, Tunitas Creek and vast tracts of open park preserves from here to the Santa Cruz Mountains is asking you to help chart its future.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (District) announced that it is launching a year-long vision plan project called Imagine the Future of Open Space.

For the first time in 40 years, the organization needs to imagine its own change. The organization seek broad public input to help guide the open space district in its decisions about land preservation, environmental stewardship, and public access and recreation to create a regional open space blueprint for the next 40 years. 

“We’re celebrating our 40th anniversary, so it is especially fitting that we are beginning a vision plan right now,” says General Manager Steve Abbors.

“Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District was formed by a group of concerned citizens who wanted to preserve the regional greenbelt, and we’re proud of what has been accomplished over the past four decades. Our Imagine the Future of Open Space project will engage the public to help us continue in this tradition.”

The District has preserved over 60,000 acres with 26 preserves in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and a small part of Santa Cruz counties.

The project will be done in two parts. The first component is a comprehensive public outreach and communication plan, beginning with its newly launched online forum at the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District website, www.openspace.org. The District is also encouraging the public to attend monthly Community Advisory Committee (CAC) meetings beginning April 17 and District Board Meetings for additional opportunities for input and review.

In addition, the district is working with Public Dialogue Consortium, a public engagement firm, to conduct one-on-one interviews about the future of regional open space at public events or by individual or group requests.

A series of vision plan public meetings will be held in fall of 2013 along with board workshops throughout 2013 and 2014. The final draft of the vision plan, Imagine the Future of Open Space is scheduled to be presented to the District board of directors in April 2014. 

The second component of the vision plan is a detailed analysis of District preserves and adjacent land to examine wildlife habitat, creeks and watershed land, recreational trails and connections, agriculture and many other topics to assist the District in future planning and environmental maintenance decisions.

More information about Imagine the Future of Open Space can be found at www.openspace.org/imagine or by sending an e-mail to imagine@openspace.org. The online interactive website can be accessed directly at http://imagine.openspace.org. 

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