Imagine Baytown: Strategic Planning for 2027

The SPAC presented the new five-year community-based strategic plan to the Baytown City Council at their council meeting on Thursday, April 14, 2022. The Council unanimously approved the plan following the presentation. The Mayor, Council, and City Administration recognized their contributions and thanked them for their service. The strategic plan is available for viewing.

The Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) met at their eighth meeting on February 23, 2022, to discuss and review the first draft of the new strategic plan. During the meeting, SPAC members confirmed the five strategic directives they believe represent the critical areas where the City of Baytown should focus resources for the next five years.

Strategic Directives:

1. Economic Prosperity

2. Critical Infrastructure & Traffic Flow

3. Outdoor Recreation & Amenities

4. Building a Connected Community

5. Beautification & Environmental Stewardship

The SPAC will meet for a final meeting in March to review the latest version of the strategic plan. Members of the SPAC will also begin preparing for their presentation to the Baytown City Council on the new strategic plan for their adoption.

The Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) sponsored an essay contest for the entire 8th grade English classes within the Goose Creek Consolidated Independent School District as a part of our community-based strategic planning process.

The writing prompt provided an opportunity for students to explain the qualities and amenities they would like to see in the future. GCCISD teachers selected the top ten essays from each campus and submitted 60 essays to the SPAC. The SPAC then selected the top three essays that they believe represent the best vision for Baytown's future.

Congratulations to Luis, Amaya, and Khyati for being selected as the contest winners and their teachers and parents. Thank you, GCCISD, for partnering with the SPAC. The Baytown City Council recognized the students at the December 9, 2021 City Council Meeting, and the GCCISD Board recognized the winners at their December 6, 2021 meeting.

The Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) is excited to share that the Community Workshop phase has closed. The SPAC hosted several workshops across the city and received vital information that will be key in creating the next Imagine Baytown plan. More news to come!

The city began collecting input in July from Baytown residents as part of the process of creating a new strategic plan, an initiative called, Imagine Baytown. This comprehensive community engagement effort to develop a city-wide plan will help guide future decisions, and feedback received from the community will help determine funding, improvement, and service priorities for the next five years.

"It is crucial we reach and work with as many people as possible,” said Brian Moran, Assistant to the City Manager. “The Strategic Planning Advisory Committee has made it clear that they want an inclusive process that seeks guidance and ideas from everyone in our diverse community."

The Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (SPAC) launched its “Your City, Your Future” Survey as the first community engagement activity, and to date, the city has received approximately 1,522 responses. The survey has just 12 questions and takes about two minutes to complete.

As a part of the public engagement and outreach, the city is hosting six Imagine Baytown community workshops the week of September 13^th, and each are open to all citizens. The workshops will include facilitated discussions revolving around positive changes seen in the last five years, what is going well in the community, and what attendees would change.

The Community Workshops will be as followed:

• Monday, September 13th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Baytown Historical Museum 220 W. Defee Avenue – Hosted by Council Member Chris Presley
• Tuesday, September 14th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Evergreen Clubhouse, 1520 Evergreen Road – Hosted by Council Member Mike Lester
• Wednesday, September 15th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Pirates Bay Pavilion, 5300 East Road – Hosted by Council Member Heather Betancourth
• Thursday, September 16th from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Baytown Chamber of Commerce, 825 Rollingbrook Drive – Hosted by Council Member Charles Johnson
• Saturday, September 18th from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baytown Community Center, 2407 Market Street – Hosted by Council Member Laura Alvarado
• Saturday, September 18th from 1 to 3 p.m. at Clark Elementary School Library, 6033 TX-146 – Hosted by Council Member Jacob Powell

Snacks and refreshments will be offered at each workshop. As an incentive, workshop attendees will be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift card.

The city believes its residents are the driving force of Baytown's community-based strategic plan. By listening to residents and working together, new ideas can be brought to life to create a better Baytown.

“Help us reach our goal by getting involved today. Take the survey or attend one of the community workshops,” said SPAC Chair Kelli Williams. “Tell us how YOU Imagine Baytown.”

The SPAC has been working hard to be inclusive of all Baytown residents. The committee is looking forward to hearing from as many residents as possible. To learn more about Imagine Baytown visit https://www.baytownengage.com/imagine-baytown2026.

Kelli Williams, SPAC Chair, presented to the Baytown City Council on June 24th about the current progress the SPAC is making for 5-Year Community-based Strategic Plan. Stayed tuned for additional announcements of the activities the SPAC is preparing.

Community Engagement Activities:

• Attending community events
• Arranging workshops and focus group for the community
• PR Campaign/media kit
• Producing committee video for the public
• Prepare articles for the Baytown Sun
• Banners, flyers and rack cards at the 4th of July Celebration and other upcoming events
• Partnering with GCCISD for back-to-school events with youth, parents, teachers, and staff
• Partnering with industry on community-wide survey

The kickoff meeting for the Strategic Planning and Advisory Committee (SPAC) was held on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, at the Evergreen Clubhouse. City Manager Rick Davis spoke at this meeting and thanked committee members for the hard work that they would be putting into the strategic planning process.

When asked if he would be attending future meetings, City Manager Davis stated, “I will not as I want this to be an independent exercise guided by each of you without the City Manager’s influence.”

Planning for the future is a priority at the City of Baytown and citizens play a central role in determining the City’s direction and project prioritization. City staff put forth a great effort to recruit committee members this year. Rack cards were handed out at various locations around the town, information was shared on social media multiple times, a project page was created on the Baytown Engage website as a resource to citizens, articles appeared in the Baytown Sun, and outreach was conducted with many of the City’s community partners and local organizations.

The response was overwhelmingly positive with many applying to serve on the SPAC. Members were appointed at the City Council meeting held on February 25, 2021. The current SPAC members include Anjali Singh, Steven Bingham, Taylor Henckel, Nicholas Rice, Kelli Williams, Morgan Allen, Tommie Smith, Rebecca Conejo, Mark Stafford, and Trevor Smith. These committee members will work toward the goal of helping to shape Baytown’s priorities for the 5-Year Imagine Baytown Strategic Plan.

The Strategic Plan will assist the City in identifying top directives and strategic initiatives for the next five years. The strategic plan is community-based and will bring together residents, the City Council, stakeholders, and city staff in the development of a vision and direction for the City of Baytown. Community feedback is extremely important — therefore, there will be a variety of ways for citizens to contribute virtually and in-person. Throughout the process, residents will be invited to participate through surveys, polls, workshops, focus groups, and open meetings. The last 5-year Strategic Plan garnered participation from about 4,000 citizens. The SPAC would like to see even more citizens participate this time around.

SPAC members will identify and engage stakeholders in focus groups to frame discussions around the most important thing they would change in Baytown and which amenities they they would like to have in the community, among other topics.

An important step in this exercise will include a citizen survey which will be mailed to a cross-section of the community and will be available online. Responses to the survey will play a key role in determining priorities for our community and comparing the City’s performance with other cities in the region.

Committee members will analyze and synthesize the data gathered from citizen meetings, focus groups, and the citizen survey to create the blueprint of the 5-year Strategic Plan. The plan will include the new directives and initiatives that the committee recommends for the new 5-year Strategic Plan. Once adopted, the City Manager will develop an annual implementation plan for the identified directives. Currently, the City of Baytown is in year four of the 5-Year Strategic Plan, which was implemented in 2017. The plan has successfully served as a road map for programs, capital improvement projects, and major initiatives with an implementation rate of about 80%.

The future looks bright for Baytown. As each year passes, we realize how valuable these exercises have been, and will continue to be to our community.

The following SPAC members were appointed at the city council meeting on 2/25/21. The City of Baytown is excited to work with the SPAC and the community at large to create a strategic plan that will bring Baytown forward.

1. Anjali Singh
2. Steven Bingham
3. Taylor Henckel
4. Nicholas Rice
5. Kelli Williams
6. Morgan Allen
7. Tommie Smith
8. Rebecca Conejo
9. Mark Stafford
10. Trevor Smith

The City of Baytown is currently reviewing the applications from citizens that applied to serve on Imagine Baytown. Applicants will be contacted if they were or were not selected to serve on the committee. We appreciate everyone's interest in making Baytown better.

There will be many other ways to be involved for those not selected to serve, and provide us with your input. Stay tuned!

The City of Baytown is now accepting applications for citizens interested in serving on committees to help determine Baytown’s future and priorities. Citizens selected for Imagine Baytown will have an active role in developing the City’s Strategic Plan or the 2040 Comprehensive Plan. Chosen members will have the opportunity to:

• Engage stakeholders in focus groups;
• Identify directives for the City of Baytown;
• Address topics such as land use, transportation, and quality of life.

Apply to serve on the Image Baytown Committee, please fill out an application here.