ROYALSTON – This Saturday, residents of the town will be asked to join an open forum to discuss the direction of the community.

A meeting organized by the Royalston 2050 Core Group is being held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Town Hall. The group’s name was adopted by the committee working on the town’s master plan.

According to Phil Rabinowitz, the group’s chair, “We’re going to be doing small groups, focus groups really, to discuss the direction of the town. We want to get as many in town involved as possible. One way to do that is to get people to ask their friends to come to a meeting at their house or some place convenient and give them a chance to give their ideas about what they want to see.”

Rabinowitz explained that there are 10 specific topics identified by the state that need to be addressed in any master plan.

“A lot of people know about that list,” he said, “but we want to present it again at this meeting, but also start to look at the specifics that are that are covered by that list. For example, it’s very easy to talk about land use, but what does that mean? That’s not just open space, that’s how we’re using the developable land in the town, how much we want developed. There isn’t much left, actually. About half the town is protected open space.”

Other topics of discussion, said Rabinowitz, include “things like police, what kinds of services do we want in general in the town, how are we going to handle schools – especially with what’s happening at the federal level now. Do we want to remain regionalized? Do we want to regionalize with somebody other than Athol? These are not necessarily ideas that are out there, they’re just things to think about.”

According to the Citizen Planner Training Collaborative web site, a master plan needs to include a statement of goals and policies, and address land use, housing, economic development, natural and cultural resources, open space and recreation, services and facilities and transportation, as well as a plan for implementation.

“Looming over everything is the question, ‘Do you want to pay more taxes to get more services, or do you not?’” said Rabinowitz. “That has to be part of what we’re looking at as well.”

At the organizational meeting of the Core Group held late last year, one of the goals mentioned was getting more residents – especially those new to the community – involved in the planning process.

“Most of us who are involved in the community are retirement age or older. There are reasons for that, but we’re aging out; I’m about to be 80,” said Rabinowitz. “I’ve been doing this stuff for 30 years but, one way or another, there’s a limit as to how long you can do it. We do have some younger selectmen now, which is good, but so many of us are in our 70s and that’s not good for the town.

“Ultimately, a comprehensive plan or strategic plan needs to be supported if it’s going to work. You can make all the plans in the world but if you don’t implement them, it doesn’t mean anything. So, the more people who are involved and can own this plan, the more likely it is to be effective – and the more likely it is to be what people really want.”

Residents are also asked to complete a six-question survey covering several items related to the future of Royalston. The survey is available at Phineas S. Newton Library, the Post Office, Town Hall and Whitney Hall.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.