Tuesday, July 16, 2024
CHELAN – The City of Chelan is in the middle of a series of listening sessions to learn what residents consider to be Lake Chelan Valley’s core values and biggest challenges, as well as their ideas for the future.
The city retained Our Valley Our Future to conduct the Lake Chelan Vision project on behalf of the entire Lake Chelan Valley.
The listening sessions are part of a community-driven outreach and visioning initiative designed to identify and memorialize core community values, and lay the foundation for the Lake Chelan Valley’s desired future. The project includes outreach to residents in an area stretching from Twenty-Five Mile Creek to South Shore to Chelan to Union Valley to Manson.
“The responses from this project are the first steps in crafting Lake Chelan Community Core Values - these are the areas that our residents hold near and dear to their hearts,” Chelan Mayor Erin McCardle said. “From here, we will continue to drill down into those areas with future conversations so that we have a very clear direction for future planning and efforts.”
“All of this work is part of our 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update that is required by the State of Washington,” she said. “If you want to have a voice in the future of Lake Chelan, you must get involved. The Comp Plan is the driving document on which all future decisions are made.”
Four of the seven listening sessions have been held. The three remaining listening sessions are geared toward traditionalists, seniors, families, and educators.
There is no cost to attend a session, but registration is required. Participants can register at ourvalleyourfuture.org/lake-chelan-vision-project/.
Remaining listening sessions:
Earlier listening sessions were well-attended. A dozen nonprofit leaders attended a listening session on June 13, and about 50 Latino residents attended one on June 27.
In early June, a community survey in English and Spanish was launched. OVOF coordinator Stephen Maher said more than 430 people completed the survey.
The English version of the survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LCVP. The Spanish version can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LCVPSpan. The survey will remain live through the end of July.
“About 56 percent of the respondents live in the City of Chelan and vicinity, about 25 percent live in the Manson area, and about 11 percent live along the South Shore,” Maher said. “The rest are split between the Twenty-Five Mile Creek area and Union Valley, The vast majority (92 percent) say the Lake Chelan Valley is their primary residence.”
Since mid-May, several community leaders and stakeholders have been interviewed as part of the project.
The project will extend into the fall months, culminating with a Community Summit in which residents will be able to offer feedback about the initial findings.
“As to what residents value most, the top responses to date have been centered on the natural environment and the lake itself, a small-town atmosphere and sense of community, access to outdoor recreation, the climate, public safety, the farms, and a more laid back slower pace in life,” Maher said.
“Residents are expressing concerns about the lack of affordable and middle market housing, population growth, loss of orchards and struggles in the agriculture industry, infrastructure needs, the labor pool, and overcrowding at parks,” he said.
This is the first valley-wide community visioning work in the Lake Chelan Valley since 2006.
OVOF is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that strives to bring residents and organizations together to plan for a better future. OVOF conducts community outreach, visioning, and planning work, and guides the development of a community-generated, regional Action Plan every five years. This is the first time OVOF has assisted an individual community in NCW with outreach and visioning.
Quinn Propst: 509-731-3590 or quinn@ward.media.
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