Community survey results and next steps

This evening, we had the privilege to hear from Dr. Michael Burayidi and the Ball State consulting team on the results from our community survey and their progress towards the development of the town’s 10-year comprehensive plan. As we mentioned previously, our community broke records by submitting the most survey responses that Dr. Burayidi has ever received across the 15 communities with which he’s worked. However, it turns out that we wrongly reported the number of survey responses received. In fact, we received a total of 190 survey responses! Thank you so much, Swayzee!

The results

The Ball State team spent the last few weeks collecting data about the town, its resources, and our community. Combining information from the town survey, publicly available land and census records, and observations made while canvasing our neighborhoods, tonight’s presentation provided a detailed look at the Swayzee which exists today and the Swayzee we hope to be in the future. We encourage everyone to review the full set of slides:

While it was clear during the presentation that we face many challenges, we were reminded that we also have many strong assets. To name just a few, our existing small businesses are civic-minded and family-owned, we have nice parks and well-maintained homes, we are situated on or near highways which are traveled by thousands of vehicles per day, and (most importantly) our residents are engaged and desire to make the town a better place.

With these assets in mind, the Ball State team wrote a community vision statement which will serve as a guiding light during the further development of Swayzee’s comprehensive plan:

What’s next?

As we head into November, the Ball State team will collect their research and write a complete draft of Swayzee’s comprehensive plan. As this draft nears completion, we will schedule another town meeting where the community will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the goals and priorities presented in the plan. Please join our mailing list to be notified when the next meeting is scheduled. Additionally, if you have any questions about the comprehensive plan or this process, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

Special thanks

We would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to Pastor Jenni DeBaun and the Swayzee Community Church for graciously hosting our meeting this evening.