SNOW HILL, Md. – Snow Hill is taking a fresh look at its future.
Town leaders and Maryland Secretary of Planning Rebecca Flora gathered with community members Wednesday night to launch work on a new comprehensive plan, the first full update since 2010. Officials say the document will guide decisions on growth, housing, transportation and the local economy over the next decade.
Flora said the process starts with bringing people together around a shared vision.
“A comprehensive planning process is about the community coming together to decide their common vision for the future and how to implement it,” Flora said. “It looks at things like housing, the economy, transportation and more, and gives the town a roadmap for where it wants to go.”
The town will use state data and a consultant, funded through a grant, to compare conditions in Snow Hill now with where things stood when the last plan was written. That includes looking at population trends, social conditions, economic indicators and the state of local infrastructure.
“You really take that pause and ask, did we improve or are we declining, and where are we at now,” Flora said. “Then you can figure out where you need to go next, instead of making decisions randomly all over the place.”
Town Manager Rick Pollitt said he was encouraged by the turnout and the level of engagement in the room.
“This process does not happen very often. This is about the kind of community we are going to live in for the next ten years,” Pollitt said. “It is not just up to those of us on the payroll. This is their project. We are their tool, and the fact that they are here shows they care.”
The plan will be built around eight statewide principles that cover land use, transportation, housing, the economy, equity, ecology, resilience and a sense of place. For Snow Hill, that could mean decisions about how and where the town should grow, what kinds of homes and businesses are needed, and how to protect the Pocomoke River and surrounding natural areas.
More public meetings and opportunities for feedback are expected in the coming months. Pollitt and state officials say the process will only succeed if people who live and work in Snow Hill stay involved and speak up about what they want the town to look like ten years from now.
