Arlington Comprehensive Plan Update Adopted 3-17-2015 | Page 147

Barry Sanders, William Sandlin, Lynda
Sherrieb, Gary Simons, Marc Stach,
Ismail Tahir, Amie Taylor, Vicki TaylorNiedermayer, Glenn Troutman, David
Wilson, Cornell Woolridge

A Balanced Community
A balanced community is one that
can maintain a high quality of life
for its residents. This quality of life
depends on a set of essential goals
being met concurrently, not one in
isolation of another. Without pursuing
a balanced community, goals are
pursued independently of each
other and one goal may come at the
expense of another. For example, the
environment is sacrificed for jobs, or
community stability is sacrificed for
economic growth. A community is
most stable when all its essential goals
can be pursued together. In order to
reach balance, it is important not to
prioritize the essential goals, but view
them all as equal.

a balanced community and enhance
a high quality of life in Arlington, it is
important for citizens and community
leaders to function together using
a successful community building
process. For a city to be successful at
community building it should possess
the following characteristics:
• community members

understand how issues affect
them;

• goals and tasks come from

community members;

• community members are

motivated and open to change;

• tasks, goals, and objectives are

flexible;

• interest exists to work together

to address issues;

• organizations operate effectively

and are used as a resource;

• opportunities exist to strengthen

community groups relationships;

Throughout the visioning process,
the concept of community building
was widely embraced. To implement

• community members hold

commonly held values;

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