Chelsea hosts ACE assessment day
The path to become a “Community of Excellence” involves many steps, and the city of Chelsea took another step forward on Thursday.
For the morning of Jan. 19, city officials and community members gathered at Chelsea City Hall to discuss the current state of the city as well as what the future might hold. The discussion was part of Chelsea’s Alabama Communities of Excellence (ACE) Assessment, the first phase of the three-phase community development program.
Chelsea councilmember Casey Morris helped kick start the city’s participation in ACE, which he said will help the city develop a plan for the future and become more attractive to future developers or businesses.
“Right now, we are operating on a comprehensive plan that was updated in 2007, so by the end of the process, the end of the three phases, I think it puts Chelsea on the map in whether it be branding to future retail developers or even just branding to a family that’s looking to relocate into the Shelby County area,” Morris said.
To even be considered for ACE, the city had to complete an extensive application process, Morris said. ACE receives about 30 applications per year, said Nisa Miranda, a member of the ACE panel, but only accepts about four to six communities per year.
Once the city was accepted as an ACE participant, Morris and other leaders brought together community stakeholders to prepare presentations in the six ACE assessment areas — infrastructure and public services; business and industry; leadership development; education/workforce; healthcare; and quality of life/community development. Those topics were presented on Jan. 19, as a six-person ACE Team took notes for future plan recommendations.
During a “working lunch” later in the morning, stakeholders discussed what the future of Chelsea might look like. While denser development — something Miranda said provides economic benefits as far as infrastructure costs — was discussed, some individuals voiced concerns over lofts in a mixed use development remaining unoccupied or attracting millenials who would not purchase their homes, but would instead rent.
While Chelsea is not dense enough, Miranda said, it benefits from working on a new comprehensive plan early. The plan will help determine what future development could and should look like, thereby laying a roadmap for the city.
“It’s almost like y’all are a blank slate, and you’ve got development ahead of you,” Miranda said.
Information in the presentations and discussion, along with findings from a community survey, will be used to create an Assessment Report highlighting what the city does well, where it could improve what a new comprehensive plan might look like.
“I’m very excited to see what our panel brings back to us,” Morris said. “… It will really be a challenge to use as the city council, and our citizens will be challenged in it as well because what we’re hoping to have happen is to engage our citizens in how Chelsea can grow.”
Along with an Assessment Report from the ACE Team, Chelsea will host town halls and other events to get input from the community. Moving forward, that input will help inform the comprehensive plan and thereby the future of development. Implementation of the strategic plan is the final phase before receiving an ACE certification, Morris said, but that is not where the work will stop.
“Once we receive the designation, there will actually be more work to do,” he said. “There will be check-ups, as there is in any certification. There’s always things to learn.”
For more information about ACE, go to alabamacommunitiesofexcellence.org.