Baltimore County, MD Time of Your LIfe, 30 Jun 2021

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From YouTube: Baltimore County's Master Plan 2030--Growth, Development and Conservation

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Steve Lafferty, JD, MA, Director of Planning
Amy Trexler Mantay, Deputy Director
Baltimore County Government

Hosted by Ethel Rasmussen, MA, Manager, Office of Communications
Baltimore County Department of Aging

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[music] Welcome to the time of your life with the baltimore county department of aging.

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I'm your host, ethel rasmussen..

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As always, the time of your life is about sharing resources for living your best life and.

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Dedicated to keeping you well-informed about the programs and services that are especially designed for you.

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You can also connect with bcda through our agency's multiple media platforms that include website,.

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Facebook,, the time of your life, digest, instagram,,.

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Flickr and map,, as well as an abundance of printed resources.,.

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Connections to be bcda are stronger than ever,, so please take advantage of the many options we offer.

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Today's show is a special one, since it provides information about a range of.

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Topics including the welcome return of our bcda's,, get ready!.

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Get set! get fit!, 5k, run,, 1 mile walk.

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keeping you in the know about this wonderful event is teresa reed,.

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Wellness specialists at bcda.

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learn about this fun, intergenerational day as well as social event and how you can participate.

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The time of your life continues with monica schmude,.

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President of the mid-atlantic market of monica schmude,, president of the mid-atlantic market of cigna. cigna, is the run-walks presenting sponsor and an advocate for fitness at any age.

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Also on today's show is vernelle mitchell-hawkins, baltimore county's 4-h educator at the university of maryland extension.

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Vernelle will share information about the summer youth employment program and cyber seniors.

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A new program to educate adults about technology and an effort to bridge the digital divide.

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County executive, johnny olszewski recently.

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Announced the kick-off of baltimore county's master plan, 2030.

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Here today to start the show and share important information about the master plan is steve. Lafferty,.

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Director of planning and amy trexler mantay, deputy director of planning for baltimore county government., steve, amy,. Thank you for being on today's show.

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Well, thank you ethel.. We appreciate the opportunity.

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Steve,, let's begin by talking about baltimore county government's master plan, 2030.

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What is the master plan, and why is it important?.

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Ethel,, this is a 10-year document that is put.

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Together by the county, as well as all the other jurisdictions in the state.

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It's really a roadmap for the county over the next decade and beyond.

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It is a vision statement about what we want the county to look like,.

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And be,, as well as how we can best serve the communities and the residents.

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Includes action, steps that agencies and communities work together to implement.

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It's hopefully a thoughtful document that reflects all the interests of the county's residents.

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I understand the master plan has a foundation of three principles,.

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Which include equity,, sustainability, and vibrant communities.? Can you explain?.

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Well, very quickly, yes.

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they're complicated ideas,, but these are the three themes that we hope to run throughout the entire document.

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When we talk about equity,, we talk about inclusive decision-making,, how we can provide access to resources in an equitable way across the county,.

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And also ensure that everyone has the opportunities they need and want to succeed.

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When we talk about sustainability,, it again is cross-cutting.. It involves really how we're looking at the present, as well as how we're.

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Going to preserve the best interests for the next generations.

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Includes looking at the environment,.

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Looking at the well-being of communities,.

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And recognizing that, as we have limited resources,.

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We need to preserve those for those who come after us.

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Of course, vibrant communities touches so many of.

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The elements that really are important to all of our residents.

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Whether it's good education,, strong economy and jobs, public safety,, well-developed communities that are walkable and safe.

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Also, then, how do we make sure that everybody is involved in a collaborative way.

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Ethel I should've said at the outset that amy is our master plan coordinator.

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And she has really been able to marshal a lot of great resources to help us move forward in this master plan. Process.

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That's wonderful., amy, steve, just shared the foundation from the master plan,.

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Can you share why citizen input is critical and the ways in which a viewer can become involved.

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A citizen input is critical for all the reasons that steve already highlighted.

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The master plan is this: outline for a shared vision for the county for the next 10 years.

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It's the foundation for development, decisions,.

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Laws, regulations, and policies.: it's our intention that all systems of baltimore county have a seat at the table throughout this process..

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Ten years have passed since the last master plan efforts and we're.

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Working hard to make sure that everyone is not only aware of the plan,.

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But also has an opportunity to talk to us about what is most important to them and then for us to help funnel that into how that fits into the bigger picture for the county of the next 10 years..

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As far as ways to get involved,, we've already started our outreach endeavors.

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We had kickoff meetings back in may and through the summer.

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We're going out to the communities, we're planning opportunities for both sharing of information,.

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Which is again what we're doing right, now,, making sure folks are aware of the plan, aware the process, it's been 10 years., then we'll move to more focused engagement in the fall.

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Right now we're really about trying to get information to the public about the plan and then getting information back from them..

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Then we'll move to stakeholder meetings, workshops,.

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And even if we're operating, virtually, we've found resources and we're trying to figure out the technology as we go, sometimes.

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But so far the public has been very receptive.

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And willing to participate so we've been very pleased so far.

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There is a timeline for the plan. amy,. Can you share the timeline with our viewing audience and the goal for each process.

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The timeline is four phased,.

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Starting with the spring, where we started with our engagement,.

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Moving through this summer, as we're going out to each of the council districts with our internal master plan, district teams.

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Again, just kind a very general discussions, trying to get feedback.. Then, as we move into the fall,, we will start to talk. About, help us develop a policy for this, help us prioritize a goal for this element of the plan.

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After that, in the winter will start to draft policies and we'll still have input through that process, as well.

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We're going to put things out to the public to get reaction,.

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And then, hopefully, by spring of 2022,.

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We'll have a draft plan for folks to react.

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To and then hopefully shortly after that, a final plan.

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But if folks haven't done it already,, we want to encourage everyone to get to the master plan. Website.

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That's where we're using that is.

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Our main tool for informing everyone about what's going on.

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If you get to the top,, you can click the "join" button,, which is the mechanism for you to get notifications,.

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Is a good way to stay up to date when we post something new.

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We have been posting surveys, and not just question surveys,, we'll start doing more interactive surveys where you can go to a map and drop pins and that type of thing.

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The website is very important to us because we're using that to provide a lot of information, also data..

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We recently started posting already some of the feedback we've been receiving.

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That's our main tool to reach to folks,.

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And then also to get information from the public as well.

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Amy, for viewers interested in learning more about the master plan, 2030,.

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Or have questions,, who can they contact??

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They can email the master plan, email, account,.

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Which is masterplan@baltimorecountymd.gov. that goes to me.

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I usually answer the questions, and sometimes if it's area specific,, like I said,.

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We have master plan teams divided up by council district,.

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And so I can direct them to the area planner, who leads that.

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Excellent. steve in closing, any information that you would like to share with our viewing audience.

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I think amy has summarized the process very, very well, ethel.

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We're trying to be inclusive as possible..

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That's why we're collecting information about the participants so that, if there's a group,, whether they're, seniors or young people or.

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People who care about education that we're able to reach out to them.

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One of our focal points is trying to make sure that people.

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From all parts of the county have the opportunity to participate.

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It is that level of participation going forward that we really are valuing.

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We know that the county executive has urged everybody to participate, and we can only reiterate that same point.

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That it is our county,, it's the people's county and hopefully all individuals want to participate in setting what the future looks. Like.

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Amy and steve,.

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Thank you for taking the time to be on today's show..

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Thank you. Ethel.

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Appreciate the opportunity.

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Thank you for having us.