In a two-day strategic planning retreat earlier this month, Planning NEXT facilitated a critical discussion on the future of Mobile, Alabama. For the first time, the retreat brought together both internal and external stakeholders for the important conversation. City directors and leaders from a dozen key institutions and organizations discussed topics of mutual interest and collaborated on ways to achieve common priorities. They also sought to align the City’s long-range planning and project implementation by identifying priority projects for seeking funding and geographic areas of the City where future planning is needed.
This was the second year Planning NEXT facilitated a retreat with City staff to assist in the creation of a 5-year Capital Improvement Plan. The Capital Improvement Plan is reviewed annually to aid in the long-term implementation of Map for Mobile, the City’s comprehensive plan, which was adopted in 2015.
The results of the retreat will inform updates to the current year’s capital projects, guide potential updates to long-range planning efforts and serve as a basis for staff alignment on shared priorities, expectations and obstacles to address.
