Remember SimCity, the game that let you design and build your own town and do everything from setting tax rates to knocking down buildings?

Residents of Greenland will get a chance to play “what if” with their own town on Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Greenland Central School when Greenland hosts a community profile workshop. Held in conjunction with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and the Greenland Planning Board, the event will give residents of this rural suburban community a chance to discuss their goals and visions for the next five years and beyond.

Greenland town manager Karen Anderson said the town decided to go ahead with the workshop in part because Greenland’s 10-year Master Plan is being updated. While the town has already surveyed residents about what Greenland’s goals should be, Anderson said town planners wanted to hear directly from residents. The town has promoted the event on its Web site and by sending out registration forms to residents.

“We’re holding this weekend to actually get residents to come in and share their thoughts and brainstorm their vision of what they’d like to see Greenland be five, 10 and even 50 years from now,” she said.

The issues facing Greenland are similar to other small towns in the state. The town is situated near major roadways, including Interstate 95 and Route 33, areas that are “primed for commercial development,” according to Anderson.

“At the same time, we want to balance commercial growth with some residential growth,” she said.

Other areas of concern are how to balance the conservation of open space with increasing tax revenue and how to attract more affordable housing units to the town.

“Greenland is not balanced in proportion for affordable housing,” Anderson said. She pointed out that large, expensive houses are more widely available than smaller, affordable homes.

Anderson said about 90 people have signed up for the workshop so far. The profile kicks off on Friday with a spaghetti dinner and an overview of the process, as well as a look back at Greenland’s history. Participants will also engage in small group discussions, covering topics ranging from recreation and education to commerce and conservation. On Saturday, there will be more small group discussions, at the end of which each group will deliver a report. The full group will reconvene at the end of the day to set goals and plans for the future of the town. Volunteers from the town and staff members of the UNH Cooperative Extension will compile the results from the two-day session. A final report will be released about a month afterward.

Michele Gagne, a program director with the Cooperative Extension, said that the report often helps communities launch new development projects. She expects between three and six new projects to come about “through thinking about where the community is today and where (residents) would like to see it in the future.”

In other communities, these developments have ranged from beautification projects and town newsletters to more long-term endeavors like zoning law changes and community centers.

“There’s a wide variety and there’s no way to predict what the end products will be, because it’s based on who comes to the profile (workshop),” Gagne said.

Adele Wick, a member of the steering committee, says the more diverse the perspectives, the better.
“It’s really an opportunity to get your views across and think about a lot of things in the context of community,” she said.

Greenland is the latest in a string of New Hampshire communities to participate in the community profile process. The program started in 1989. Since then, more than 70 communities have completed a profile, according to Gagne. While smaller communities generally take part in the profile workshops, Gagne said some larger cities, like Manchester, Salem and Londonderry, participate as well.

While communities often tie the profile workshops into master planning sessions, Gagne said the profile should be used in conjunction with surveys and public forums on specific issues to get the most input from residents. In addition to aiding the planning process, Gagne said profile workshops also spur community involvement.

“We find that’s a huge output of profiles,” she said. “More people will start running for public office … groups will get more volunteers, just because people are sitting down talking about their community and what they would like to see.”

The workshops give residents a “neutral forum” to discuss town issues, she said.

“It’s really different from town meetings … it gives people an opportunity to discuss the town in a way that’s not judgmental or (full of conflict),” she said.