Strategic plan

The Spring Creek Association's Strategic Plan is the Community’s Vision and guide for future physical, economic and social development and is a five year document covering many areas. The Strategic Plan contains visions, goals, policies and implementation strategies that guide decisions such as what the Association's members want to see in the future, financial plans, capital reserve planning, and conservation and sustainability. The Stragetic  Plan seeks to assure that decisions are consistent with the Community’s Vision. 

A General/Strategic plan is a clear statement of where the SCA is going and how it intends to get there. It includes a vision, a description of the mission of SCA, a set of guiding principles (values) that will guide actions, a set of multi-year goals that guide decisions, objectives and strategies for each goal, and a plan for implementation and accountability. The plan will provide the framework to link identified objectives to the budget process, capital improvement plan, important policy considerations, economic development initiatives, and the SCA’s desire for continuous improvement. In summary, the plan helps translate the community’s vision and the Board’s goals for the Association – enabling the Association to better serve the community. 

The plan highlights the priorities that the SCA will complete in the coming years. This plan will guide readers through the SCA’s goals resulting from the interviews, community meetings, focus groups, survey information and executive management workshops. Each goal has objectives and related strategies to be implemented during the 5-year strategic plan. The following is a brief definition of the goals, objectives and strategies:

Goals are general topics that are likely to involve multiple departments and encompass  many objectives. Combining objectives within goals helps to ensure that activities covering similar areas are aligned to produce effective and efficient results.

Objectives are multi-year in nature. The timeframe for achieving an objective is typically three to five years, although some may take longer to accomplish.

Strategies are the means to achieve the goals. The timeframe for implementing strategies can be within a single budget year and may span several years depending on the specific program or projects undertaken.

The 5-year strategic plan is a living document and should not be considered static by any means. The strategic plan will continue to evolve as SCA staff provides periodic updates to the Board and its community during regularly scheduled Board meetings, Committee meetings and budget meetings. Since assumptions, community needs, the economy, legislation and other factors upon which this plan is based continue to change, it is necessary that this be considered as the beginning, rather than an end, to managing the SCA and serving the Spring Creek Community.  

Board Retreat: The strategic planning process will began with the board retreat where the board leadership will review strengths, limitations, opportunities, and threats of SCA as well as share their vision for the Spring Creek Community as well as the mission and core values to drive the organization’s policies and actions. The results of the retreat set the basis by which to carry out the SCA’s outreach efforts and community engagement. The SCA’s outreach efforts will focus on gathering input from a broad spectrum of community stakeholders to ensure the plan reflects the needs of the community.

Community Forum: Community Forum’s will be held with the objective of receiving a broad perspective from the community. Topics to discuss can include financial stability, facilities and infrastructure, recreation, governance and more. The participants of the forums will identify top importance areas to be looked at in developing the plan.

Focus Groups: To enhance the results of the Community Forum, the SCA will hold four focus group meetings comprised of employees, key themed groups, stakeholders and others. The groups will review strengths, limitations, opportunities and threats. The focus group participants will identify community characteristics which make Spring Creek special as well as the top priorities they felt should be incorporated into the five-year strategic plan. From this, a community survey will be put in place.

Community Survey: SCA will prepare a community online survey based on the input gathered during the Board Retreat, Community Forum, and Focus Group Meetings.

Community Workshops: Community Workshops will then be held based on the above results. This will help drill down on the results to better clarify items in the plan.

Executive Management Team Workshop: The executive management team and staff will review both the qualitative input and quantitative trend data from SCA’s outreach efforts in order to develop draft goals, objectives and strategies consistent with the input gathered during the strategic planning process. In addition, implementation timeframes will be developed.

Community Overview Meeting: From the information above, the SCA will release a draft plan through various communication avenues which will provide an opportunity for the community to review and provide further input on the plan.

Final Plan Execution: From the input above, the SCA will release the final plan through various communication avenues and start executing on the goals.

Sample Plan Outline 

Goal: Stabilize Community Facilities and Amenities

The SCA has the responsibility to maintain the facilities in our community including roads, buildings, and amenities.

Objectives:

1. Establish and maintain a capital reinvestment plan for assets

2. Address deferred maintenance on buildings and equipment

Strategies for Objective:

1: Establish and maintain a capital reinvestment plan for assets
     a. Develop a complete inventory of all assets to determine the scope of improvements needed to sustain the Association’s current infrastructure investment.

      b. Equitably maintain existing roads and associated assets in a state of good repair so they are clean, safe and aesthetically pleasing for all users.

      c. Invest resources and technology to extend the service life of existing infrastructure to protect the SCA’s investment and support a high quality of life standard.