Steering Committee Meeting
June 13, 2006 - Summary: The Steering Committee set the agenda for the June 19 Stakeholder meeting. They also review the list of requested information that they have responsibility for, which includes a discussion on collecting community and visitor opinions. Finally, the group decides to look into having panel presentations on a few topics in September: business-related questions, cruise ship-related questions, and possibly fish-related questions.
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Steering Committee Meeting
June 6, 2006 - The committee made plans for the work session they have scheduled with the Assembly on June 27th at 6 pm.
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Steering Committee Meeting
May 23, 2006 - Phyllis Hackett joins the Steering Committee. The group hears from a Stakeholder about her concerns regarding one of last night’s presentations, and they discuss possibilities for resolving that issue. SC and SH members discuss the transportation study that the Assembly recently approved, and their efforts to get SH questions included in the contract. The committee discusses possibilities for a work session with the Assembly. Finally, the committee decides to host a more informal public meeting in September, and two Stakeholders agree to be the “party planners.”
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Stakeholder Meeting
May 22, 2006 - The Stakeholders hold a discussion about creating additional ground rules to keep the process safe for all participants. They do some work in their committees to set the agendas for the summer meetings. A continuation of a previous presentation on fish allocations is continued, and the discussion reveals some strong divergent opinions within the group.
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Steering Committee Meeting
May 15, 2006 - The Steering Committee plans for the summer stakeholder meetings, assuring a balance of stakehoilders attend the meetings, and responds to a proposed transportation study.
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Steering Committee Meeting
May 2, 2006 - The Steering Committee debriefed the May 1 Stakeholder meeting, which included discussion about how to handle the ongoing absence of some critical community perspectives, and deescalating some tension among various fishing industries. They also planned for Thursday’s public meeting, and discussed several miscellaneous items.
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Stakeholder Meeting
May 1 , 2006 - Stakeholders continued to hear presentations about various requested bits of information. The following items were presented and the Stakeholders reached agreement about what they learned, which puts these items to rest until the visioning/planning phases later in the process:
- What is the environmental impact of the cruise industry? (cruise ship category)
- Environment impact comparison: large ship to small (planning category)
The Stakeholders also heard an expert panel presentation addressing the following requested piece of information:
- What are the various positions on the visitor – charter/subsistence/sport/commercial fish allocation?
- What is the effect of “visitor fishing” on fish allocations in Sitka area? (Community issues category)
Stakeholders felt the presentation on the first question was adequate, and agreed to close that question for now. Further information will be presented on the second question in the future.
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Steering Committee Meeting
April 25 , 2006 - The Steering Committee with the help of a few Stakeholders made some plans for the public meeting scheduled for May 4. There was also quite a bit of discussion about the level of intensity the Stakeholders are feeling during this phase, and some strategies for supporting them through it.
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Stakeholder Meeting
April 22, 2006 - Stakeholders continued to hear presentations about various requested bits of information. The following items were presented and the Stakeholders reached agreement about what they learned, which puts these items to rest until the visioning/planning phases later in the process:
- How do we get facts about cruise ship industry? (cruise ships category)
- Needed information: % of local purchases at “tourist” businesses (economy category)
- Inventory of our unique cultural/historical assets (culture and history category)
- What are we lacking in terms of historical interpretation (walking tours, etc.) (culture and history category)
- What training/info do we provide to guides for accuracy? (cruise ships category)
- Who has control of the Causeway? (planning category)
The Stakeholders also heard presentations on the following, but did not reach closure on them:
- What are ordinances on noise? (business category)
- Visitor traffic pattern studies (planning category)
- Zoning laws as they relate to businesses (business category)
- Is it legal/possible for local government to not allow shops to close in the winter – can we limit # of types of shops, i.e. jewelry/fur, etc. What tools are available to address these issues and what has worked in other places? (visitor experience category)
- Do non-local businesses that leave/close before 12/31 contribute to property taxes and/or inventory taxes in Sitka? (business category)
- What is the potential for cultural/historical resource development? Causeway? (culture and history category)
- What is the capacity and impact on infrastructure, support services, NPS, hospitals, SPD, airport, Trail Works, City of Sitka, STA, NFS, etc.? (planning category)
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Stakeholder Meeting
April 22, 2006 - The Stakeholders hear the first round of information presentations on the following topics:
• Do visitor numbers impact rural status?
• Will the visitor industry affect rural status?
• Does Sitka have enough services/resources for visitor accommodations, and does it (visitor infrastructure) jeopardize rural status?
• What are ordinances on noise?
• Visitor traffic pattern studies
• Zoning laws as they relate to businesses
• Is it legal/possible for local government to not allow shops to close in the winter – can we limit # of types of shops, i.e. jewelry/fur, etc.; What tools are available to address these issues and what has worked in other places?
• Do non-local businesses that leave/close before 12/31 contribute to property taxes and/or inventory taxes in Sitka?
• Where money comes from for visitor services and expenses
• Current tax structure where it may relate to visitors
In processing the presentations on these topics, the group develops a clearer structure for debriefing the presentation and reaching consensus on it.
The Stakeholders reach consensus on the information provided for the first topic, but all others are returned to committee for further information.
The group also determines a summer meeting schedule.
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Steering Committee Meeting
April 18 , 2006 - A debrief of the last Stakeholder meeting and planning for the next one.
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Stakeholder Meeting
April 17, 2006 - Stakeholders are in the information gathering and presenting stage. Tonight they divided themselves into four groups that will seek information that will help the Stakeholders come to a common understanding of what is currently happening with tourism in Sitka today. Each of the four groups were given a list of topics that possibly could be answered from the same source (i.e. one group has questions for the city, another has questions for local businesses). Stakeholder groups will begin giving presentations on their findings at the next meeting, which will be Saturday, April 22.
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Steering Committee Meeting
April 13 , 2006 - Two primary topics were on the table for the Steering Committee – how to proceed with providing Stakeholders with the information they have requested, and how to handle two of the more contentious topics (cruise ship dock and fishing allocations). Process expert David Chrislip joined the committee by phone for a portion of the meeting to answer questions about how to approach these issues. The committee developed an agenda for the next Stakeholder meeting.
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Stakeholder Meeting
April 10, 2006 - Stakeholders were introduced to the idea of the Parking Lot – a place where discussion topics could be placed if the group feels it is impeding their progress. Hugh Bevan gave the first information presentation to the group – it was some basic visitor data as compiled by the McDowell Group in their annual State of Sitka’s Economy report. The Stakeholders then debriefed the presentation, giving feedback on both the manner in which it was presented, as well as the usefulness of the report itself. The Steering Committee gave an update on where we are in the process and where we’re hoping to get. Finally, the Stakeholders finished prioritizing the information they have requested, indicating which questions need to be answered most urgently.
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Steering Committee Meeting
April 4 , 2006 - The Steering Committee is planning the agenda for the next Stakeholder meeting, and needs to determine what to do next with the lists of requested information (i.e. studies, data, expert insights, etc.) that have been developed, and how to proceed with providing this information to the Stakeholders.
Stakeholder Meeting
April 3, 2006 - The Stakeholders pick up where they left off on Saturday, with the task of listing the information they need to make good decisions about their concerns and making clarifications about those requests when there are questions.
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Stakeholder Meeting
March 27, 2006 - The Stakeholder group answers the question, "When you think of visitors to Sitka and what they do, what concerns you the most?"
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Steering Committee Meeting
March 23, 2006 -
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Stakeholders Begin to find Shared Understanding of the Issues
March 20, 2006 - Stakeholders gets to work on the content of the long-range plan today. The first step was to come to a consensus on what we mean by a "visitor" or a "tourist". Next the group began a dialogue to learn about the top concerns that each stakeholder has about visitors to Sitka and what they do while they are here.
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First Stakeholder Meeting
March 14 , 2006 - The group of community members who will be working together to create the long-range tourism plan have their first meeting. An outline of the expected course of this process over the upcoming months was presented, (the Process Map). The group also spent some time exploring the diversity of roles and perspectives that are represented. Future meetings were set for every Monday from 5:30 to 8:30 pm through the month of April.
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Planning first Stakeholder Meeting.
March 13, 2006 - The Steering Committee goes over the plan for the first Stakeholder meeting.
Convener Work On Final List of Stakeholder Group
March 6, 2006 - Last Wednesday about 10 people gathered to review the grid, fill in the blanks for Perspectives and Experiences, and get an idea about which categories were light or heavy.
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Steering Committee takes another look at the Stakeholder Grid
March 1 , 2006- The Sitka Long-Range Tourism Plan Steering Committee, along with a subcommittee of the Convener Group, work to assure that the members of the Stakeholder Group will be balanced based upon the needed Experiences an Perspectives. The group has come up with a plan for recruitment of stakeholders who have specific perspectives and experiences, and will work with the full Convener group on March 6 to gather our Stakeholders for their first meeting on March 14.
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Steering Committee checks in on the process.
February 27 - The Steering Committee calls in to David Chrislip and plans for the first Stakeholders meeting.
Public Information Meeting
February 24, 2006- The Sitka Long-Range Tourism Plan Steering Committee host a public information meeting at the Sheet'ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi house. The public was invited to learn more about the collaborative process and how it will be used to build community consensus about the future of Sitka's visitor industry.
Agenda:
1. Introductions
2. History of tourism planning process
3. Overview of community collaborative process
4. People, perspectives, and experience
5. How will Sitkans participate
6. Planning timeline
7. Q&A
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Meeting to plan the public informational meeting
February 21, 2006 - At the close of the February 20th Conveners meeting, people were interested in helping with the next steps; these folks from the Conveners offered to help plan Friday night.
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Conveners meet again to identify Stakeholder Group
February 20, 2006 - The Conveners met again to clarify the roles within the process, create the final Needed Expereinces and Perspectives list, and plan some next steps.
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Steering Committee Postpones Stakeholder Meeting
February 16, 2006 - There has been some confusion, and the Steering Committee seeks to resolve a couple of key issues: the content and set-up of the public information meeting scheduled for Feb 24, and the process of identifying a manageable core group of stakeholders. The Committee agrees to postpone the first Stakeholders meeting.
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Steering Committee Reviews and Refines the Stakeholders Grid
February 13, 2006 - The Committee reviewed and refined the Stakeholders Grid. The committee spent the majority of the meeting reviewing the draft of the grid that identifies potential stakeholders and associates them with the necessary perspectives and experiences desired for this process.
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Convener Group meets to identify Stakeholders
February 2, 2006 - A cross section of the Sitka community (called the Conveners) met to learn more about the collaborative process and embark on the first steps. They created a list of necessary perspectives and experiences that should be represented in the Stakeholders who will work on this plan over the next 8 months. The Convener Group was identified by the Steering Committee to represent a broad section of the community.
The Convener group heard an overview of the collaborative process and began to build agreement on some key questions: What does a Tourism Plan Do? Who Does it Affect? What could Stop, Slow, or Dilute the Process or Outcome? And finally the most important question, What Experiences and Perspectives are Necessary to Achieve the Mission?
The answers to this question were put into a grid. The Convening Group and the Steering Committee are reviewing the grid to identify where Perspectives and Experiences are needed and recruiting individuals that fill those needs. Once many potential stakeholders have been identified, the final list will be made by the Steering Committee, the Convener Group, and the Stakeholders themselves.
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Convener Group Named
January 30, 2006 - The Steering Committee named a group of about twenty people that represent a broad cross section of the community. This Conveners Group will meet to identify the perspectives and experiences needed of community members who participate in developing the plan, and begin the process of identifying those community members. Some may even be members from this group.
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Steering Committee Named
January 12, 2005 - The LRPEDC names a Steering Committee to drive the collaborative process. The committee has no input into the outcome, but will guide the process from start to finish. Their job is to assure that the community understands the process at each step, that the needed perspectives and experiences of the community are reflected in the product, and that the process keeps moving toward the goal. It will be up to the Steering Committee to define the roles and rules of the process as it progresses.
The Steering Committee include three persons from LRPEDC: Cleo Brylinsky, Julia Smith and Hugh Bevan; plus two members from the public: Brian McNitt and John Litten. They decide to use a process outlined in David Chrislip's Fieldbook for Collaborative Planning.
Learn more about the members of the Steering Committee.
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The Long Range Planning and Economic Development Commission proposes initiation of a collaborative tourism plan
December 19, 2005 -The LRPEDC proposes the collaboration to the Assembly, which accepts it. This proposition includes the mission statement, and begins to broadly outline the process timeline and expected outcomes. A portion of that document appears below.
To: Mayor and Assembly
From: The Long Range Planning and Economic Development Commission
Date: December19th
Re: Collaborative Effort Toward the Development of a Long Range Tourism Plan for Sitka
At our recent work session on December 15th our commission and interested members of the community met to discuss the next steps in the start up of a collaborative process regarding our tourism plan. We would like to present you with our mission statement, goals for the collaboration, our view of the near term steps and our request for funding.
Mission statement: To create a plan that provides for sustainable tourism business development and maintains Sitkan’s quality of life, recognizing the characteristics that make Sitka attractive to both residents and visitors.
Goals for the Collaboration:
- Define the issues and opportunities inherent in tourism in Sitka.
- Develop strategies for addressing those issues and opportunities.
- Produce a written report documenting the process including conclusions and recommendations that will become the framework for Phase II.
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The Sitka City Assembly tasks the LRPEDC to develop a long range tourism plan.
November 15 , 2005 - The Sitka Assembly approves to assign the Long-Range Tourism Plan to a task force of the Long Range Planning and Economic Development Committee.
| Documents submitted to the Asembly |
 what's this? |
| Assembly Minutes (key pages are 14-15) |
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