Focus Groups help refine priorities for Lincoln Community Master Plan

Development of the Lincoln Community Master Plan continues to move forward after six focus group discussions met June 9 and 10 for a more detailed look at the major concerns identified in a survey circulated in March.

Dustin De yong of Freestone Development, the contractor hired to develop the master plan, facilitated the discussions, which combined in person meetings and Zoom participation for those who couldn't be in Lincoln.

"I know it was difficult for some people to attend, due to their schedules," De yong said. "That's kind of the hard part about scheduling these things. You can't fit into everybody's schedules perfectly."

The different groups looked at the Highway 200 corridor, existing business issues, recreational opportunities, community identity, community organization, and community need and economic development.

Although the discussions were generally specific to the assorted topics, De yong said there were a couple recuring topics among all the focus groups, including the need for better organization within the community and issues with Highway 200.

"The conversations were really useful," said Karyn Good, the community coordinator for the Master Plan, during her update at the June 21 Upper Blackfoot Valley Community Council meeting. "The people who did show up seemed to be genuinely interested in what is going on in our town. Especially Highway 200 and making safety a priority."

According to summaries of the meetings De yong provided to the Master Plan steering committee, the Highway 200 Corridor meeting drew the most participation.

"I would say the Highway 200 corridor meeting was really productive," De yong said. "We had a number of people from (the Montana Department of Transportation) in that meeting."

He said Lincoln's resident Highway Patrol trooper Jesse Short also provided insights into the towns speeding issues and danger points he's seen along Highway 200, particularly between 6th Street and Stemple Pass Road. Kevin Myhre from the Century Company, one of Freestone's consulting partners was also on hand to share his dealing with similar issues in Lewistown and other rural communities that deal with main streets that are also highways."

De yong said some of the 'low-hanging fruit' they found includes some simple things like moving some 30 MPH speed limit signs to more visible areas, additional electronic speed signs, possible safety zones or cross walks in the congested area downtown and the possibility of re-designing parking in some areas by moving it further off the highway.

De yong said the meeting also helped set up lines of communication with MDT.

"This focus group definitely facilitated a conversation between the community and the department of transportation. The department was so happy to be part of that focus group meeting. They said the key to any kind of progress is communication and coordination, early and often."

"We're going to try to keep them as informed as possible," Good told the UBVCC.

De yong said a common thread through all the focus groups was the need for better community organization and coordination both between the town's business and the various local groups.

"There are definitely a lot of different silos of interest, whether it's the snowmobilers and the OHV guys, or the business community doing their things, or the art community," he said. "All these different silos have their events, their organizing and the fundraising they're trying to do. Everybody's trying to grab from the same pool of volunteers. It's created some stresses for both the organizers and on the community."

The Existing Business focus group addressed the need in terms of collaboration between businesses that can help them prepare for, advertise for and capitalize on local events. Lincoln Valley Chamber of Commerce President Laurie Welty, who noted a lack of attendance at their meetings, suggested the community think in terms of abundance rather than scarcity, since the area has so much to offer. In short, businesses should work together to capture more of the available market, rather than fight over existing customers.

The Recreational Opportunities group also touched on the subjects of businesses helping one another out and the need for better communication and marketing.

The Community Identity Group discussed the need to connect the community to its history and to link the town more directly to Sculpture in the Wild and the community of local artists, as well as the various community events the business community could capitalize on through better coordination.

Ironically, the group that focused on community organization had the least participation, with just five people taking part. Nevertheless, they talked about the possibility of creating a group or organization that could serve as a hub to help businesses and groups coordinate events, projects and fundraising, and to help the various local organizations further their interests.

The group felt such an organization should represent both residents and businesses and serve as a neutral facilitator without its own agenda or pet projects.

The discussion turned to whether a community foundation could fill that role. The Lincoln Valley Community Foundation already exists. It was created in the 1990's and has an endowment fund of about $50,000. It never really found a firm footing and since about 2009 has been administered by the Helena Area Community Foundation. Through the HACF, the foundation endowment still funds small grants for Lincoln and management of the foundation could be returned to the Lincoln community.

"It begins to snowball if you successfully drive that foundation fund to the point where you've got some working capital for the community," De Yong said.

Although participation in the focus groups wasn't as good as it could have been, De yong said he's pleased with the level of community enjoyment.

'When we started this process, it was emphasized that community engagement was paramount. I have to say Lincoln really stepped forward, from participation in the town hall meetings to the survey and now the focus groups. There are a lot of passionate community members who want to see the best for their community."

I think they did a good job on directing the contractor on where to go with this master plan," Good said. Hopefully he's getting all the information he needs to put together something the community can get behind or support."

The next piece of the master plan puzzle involves a visit by the Montana State University's 's Community Design Center students and staff slated for June 29. They will spend the day evaluating everything from the approaches to town and speed limits to downtown walkability trail connectivity and parking to possible locations for a community hub. From that they will develop design options that could be developed further.

As Myhre noted about planning efforts during the Highway 200 corridor meeting, just because something is drawn on paper doesn't mean that it will happen that way.

De yong said if anyone has questions or wants to voice their opinions about the subjects of the focus groups, he's completely open to receiving e-mails. "They can put their thoughts down in an e-mail and I'll add those into the focus group dataset."

De yong can be reached at [email protected]