The Town of Dobson held a planning session Tuesday night and invited members of the community to join in the early formation of a five-year economic plan for Dobson.
Lizzie Morrison, community economic development planner with the North Carolina Department of Commerce, lead the session hosted at the Surry County Service Center in Dobson.
She has been in that role for a little over a year and said it felt great to be back in the saddle working on local economic development. “It feels great to work in Surry County with my neighbors and friends in the Town of Dobson.”
She said the goal was to develop an economic vision grounded in “achievable growth opportunities that will guide tangible actions and projects” that Dobson can take on alongside their strategic partners.
Dobson Town Manager Jeff Sedlacek said, “We had a phenomenal turnout and great conversation throughout the evening. This was one of the biggest community engagement sessions that I have seen, and the outpouring of support and excitement for the future was what we heard throughout the night.”
Inside the Service Center dozens of area residents took part in a discussion and group activities about the economic future of Dobson and the downtown. She has facilitated several of these planning sessions and observed, “Dobson definitely brought the fun with food trucks and a social hour before the meeting started.”
Checking the community’s pulse
Having community input makes all the difference Morrison said. “A strategic economic development plan for a community is more impactful when it is created by the community at large. The visioning workshop helps to develop a consensus about what economic future the people of Dobson want.”
Sedlacek said the insight gained, “Will help shape the vision of downtown Dobson as we build action items that align with the vision and economic statement that was set Tuesday night. Over the next few weeks and months, we will be reviewing our notes, the group’s ideas, and formulating a plan on revitalization of the downtown.”
Following the two-hour vision session, participants put all their ideas together and Sedlacek said some themes emerged. The group identified agriculture and agritourism as potential growth areas, especially centered around the area’s vineyards.
Respondents felt the character of the town and its people were also a strong suit and used phrases like “charming and family-friendly” while saying the town has “strong community partners.” Access to education and notably to Surry Community College are a feather in Dobson’s cap they felt.
Visitors and residents alike may enjoy Dobson’s walkable downtown the group said, and its central location in the county make it a launching point to explore.
Exploration and “adventure” were also identified as assets by those in attendance who noted the town’s proximity and available access points to the great outdoors via river accesses, Fisher River Park, and even the Dobson Square Park Splashpad — something folks just won’t find elsewhere — as things the town can highlight and leverage for future economic growth.
A coin has two sides and Sedlacek said the group looked at both, identifying areas of improvement because a true exercise in self-reflection should take into account both positives and negatives. A need for more housing was identified as was a desire to decrease the number of vacant buildings. Also, the group suggested beautification along downtown and suggested streetscaping.
Strong foundation
In her job Morrison said she travels throughout the Piedmont to help small towns plan for economic success and has found, “Rural North Carolina is resilient and filled with the best public servants and citizens, and Dobson is no exception. The enthusiasm and creativity in the room Tuesday was palpable.”
She added that one of the pillars of the NC Main Street & Rural Planning Center is organization which Dobson engaged in Tuesday night by, “Building leadership and strong organizational capacity, ensuring broad community engagement, and forging partnership across sectors.”
The robust turnout to the vision session signaled good things Morrison said. “With so many people in attendance, Dobson showed they’ve got great future-minded leadership. The impressive participation at the economic visioning workshop is an indicator that the people of Dobson have strong civic pride and are ready to grow.”
Travis Frye, who doubles as Dobson’s tourism director and director of Surry County’s Tourism Development Authority, said what stood out to him was, “A sense of community. A positive attitude towards working together to achieve goals and utilizing resources. Dobson has untapped potential and already showcases many positive attributes that make the town special.”
“An underlying theme is that everyone in the room wants Dobson to be the best place that it can be. Everyone has a different definition of what success looks like for Dobson, and everyone is working in their respective areas to make it better,” Sedlacek concurred.
“We are all getting on the same page for how we make Dobson the best place to live, work, and play and using the input from last night to create the shared vision and steps to achieve that goal. Following this event, the downtown workgroup will formulate action steps and present to the Board of Commissioners.”
Sedlacek noted the event would not have been possible without the assistance from Morrison and Phil Boggan with the Department of Commerce who have, “Helped us in aligning these ideas to one vision and helping us define that roadmap with the workgroup moving forward.”
Frye commented, “Dobson is on a positive trajectory. Through the community economic visioning workshop, we were able to gauge community assets, address strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats so that we could be on the same page in a share vision and steps to achieve our goals.”
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