Uses for the former Page Middle School site and Main Street improvements are just some of the ideas citizens have provided for the county’s next Capital Improvement Plan.

Gloucester County administration is seeking public participation in developing the county’s proposed fiscal year 2018-2022 CIP, which can be given by visiting the county’s citizen involvement platform, “SpeakUp Gloucester” at http://speakupgloucesterva.info. 

“Citizens are encouraged to provide ideas for capital projects that the county administrator and board of supervisors should consider as they develop this plan,” said Gloucester spokesperson Christi Lewis. “Citizen input is an important factor in the development of the CIP and participation is greatly appreciated.”

The CIP is a comprehensive plan for the development, modernization or replacement of county-owned facilities, infrastructure, equipment and land acquisition.

So far, ideas citizens have posted on the site include adding onto Gloucester High School to address overcrowding rather than spending millions of dollars on a new school. There is also an idea posted to utilize the former Page Middle School property as an area for sports to be played and allow concessions to defray the costs of sports activity fees.

Another resident posted that the former Page site would be an ideal location to give the county and school system the ability to consolidate certain functions of both entities, which, in turn, could save money. 

A third person posted that he thought it would be a good idea to implement a 50-foot “no parking zone” at each intersection along Main Street to improve driver visibility of pedestrian crossings and of merging traffic.

Once on SpeakUp Gloucester, citizens can click on “Proposed FY 18-22 Capital Improvement Plan” to join the discussion. New users are asked to create an account and password by providing their first name, last name and e-mail address. The discussion will be open until Sept. 2.