Fresh off his re-election victory, Mayor Ted Bettencourt is looking forward to the implementation of the city’s master plan, Vision 2035.
The plan’s goal, according to a press release from the mayor’s office, is to create a “Peabody for all” by developing an all-encompassing guide and shared vision for the future of the city.
Bettencourt’s office announced Vision 2035 on Nov. 2, and its implementation started with a visioning workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at the Higgins Middle School.
Bettencourt explained that Vision 2035 is the product of a collaboration with Salem State University, in which a plan originally developed by the city more than 20 years ago was updated. Now, he said, is a good time for the project to get underway.
“I think this is a great moment in time to look ahead and think about the future and what we want to accomplish,” Bettencourt said. “And I was very pleased that the state was supportive of our plan.”
The master plan’s commencement is being funded by two grants totaling $165,000. The city obtained the grants through the state’s Executive Office for Administration and Finance in the spring. Bettencourt thanked state Reps. Tom Walsh and Sally Kerans and state Sen. Joan Lovely for their help in securing the earmarks.
In order to ensure residential input and representation, the city has put together a Master Plan Steering Committee made up of Peabody residents. Bettencourt said he played a major role in assembling that committee and explained his criteria for determining who would comprise it.
“I wanted to put a group together that I felt really encapsulated what Peabody was all about,” Bettencourt said. “People from different backgrounds, people from different ages, different people that live and work in different parts of the city.”
He added that the committee is a mixture of businesspeople, parents, clergy, and elected officials.
“I think it’s a really well-balanced group that factors in all the important parts of our community,” Bettencourt said.
