SAUGUS — Updating the town’s master plan is at the top of the list of issues for Saugus’ Board of Selectmen to tackle in the coming months.
“This master plan is our most important priority,” board member Jeff Cicolini told town manager Scott Crabtree at Tuesday’s meeting about the committee’s long term goals.
Board member Debra Panetta agreed: “Absolutely,” she said. “That’s our guide moving forward.”
Crabtree announced in November that work on a town-wide master plan was underway as part of an effort to modernize Saugus and prepare it for future growth and development.
Although the board will not be directly involved in the plan’s drafting, its members will have chances to hear from Saugus citizens to make sure their voices are heard and the community’s needs are met throughout the process.
Once completed, the plan is intended to create a more open, democratic planning process and introduce a clearer framework for future policy decisions. Panetta and Cicolini both said its ongoing development will also affect nearly all of the board’s future decisions.
“It’s going to dictate so much. Public safety, infrastructure, schooling, housing,” Cicolini said. “(This plan) is literally going to be a catalyst for so many things in the town.”
Cicolini added it didn’t make sense for the board to lay out its goals for the plan too firmly without first having input from the community.
“I think the process needs to be collaborative,” he said. “I would like to see if there’s some public input process. Why would we do goals now and then bring the public in? Because I think the public is going to want to have input.”
The selectmen also discussed the construction of a West Side fire station, affordable housing, and multiple potential Department of Public Works projects, nearly all of which could be affected by the new master plan.
“Saugus has been so far behind in doing any of this stuff,” Crabtree told the board. “We’re trying to help this demographic that wants a fire truck, this demographic that wants to focus on schools, this one that wants a playground. We can’t do it all at once … It’s about trying to figure out what our priorities are moving forward.”