SOUTHWICK — Southwick residents are invited to participate in a visioning session for the creation of a new Master Plan for the town, after more than 900 residents weighed in through a survey on how they want Southwick to look in 20 years.

The Master Plan Advisory Committee (MPAC) will host two visioning sessions, at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 13 and at 9 a.m. on Oct. 15. The committee is asking for residents and business owners in Southwick to attend those sessions at Town Hall in order to get more input into how the town should prioritize infrastructure and development changes over the next two decades.

MPAC member Burt Hansen said that each visioning session is estimated to last two hours, and attendees will be organized into “breakout groups” to discuss Southwick’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, otherwise known as SWOT analysis. The breakout groups will then reconvene together and go over a summary of what was discussed.

Hansen said that sometime after the visioning sessions, the committee will create focus groups to discuss in detail what specific development and infrastructure needs should be addressed in Southwick during the lifespan of this Master Plan. The focus groups will address things like transportation, the environment, and energy usage in Southwick.

The visioning sessions will each feature refreshments, as well as childcare for the duration of the session. One may also connect to the sessions via Zoom.

The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has been consulting with the town during the creation of the Master Plan thus far, and facilitated the survey that received 970 responses, a little less than 10 percent of Southwick’s population.

A more condensed data report from the survey will be made by the PVPC, but early data indicated that residents have an interest in preserving the rural character of Southwick. When the survey asked in a multi-response question what kinds of development should be encouraged, 80.5 percent said that agricultural development should be encouraged, 62.5 percent wanted business development, 49.5 percent wanted further residential development, 36.6 percent wanted office development and 24.3 percent wanted industrial development.

With most types of long-term development, a town typically also has to contend with long-term growth, and 58.4 percent said they would support updates to the boundaries of existing zoning districts in town, 55.1 percent supported mixed-use residential and business zoning, while 52.5 percent opposed expansion of zoning districts for business and light industrial use.

Some of the most lopsided responses to the survey involved protections for landowners and agricultural lands. Respondents were 87 percent in favor of adopting additional zoning to protect agricultural lands and educating landowners about options for permanently protecting their own land.

Nearly 80 percent of respondents said they would support having an upper limit on the size of new buildings and expansions of existing buildings.