ANSBACH, Germany (April 7, 2015) -- As part of U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's goal of drafting a vision statement and creating a 20-year plan, a special team designated through Installation Management Command traveled here in late March to help USAG Ansbach do just that.
In 2013, the Department of the Army directed that all garrisons have a vision statement and 20-year plan by 2018. To assist the garrisons in establishing their plans and vision, IMCOM established contracts with architectural and urban planning firms.
In turn, these firms established teams of architects, landscape architects and urban planners who travel from garrison to garrison. These "Vision Planning Team" visits and subsequent work are free of charge to the garrisons they visit, but there's a long backlog and longer wait to get them.
With the help of IMCOM-Europe, USAG Ansbach was able to get a team to visit the garrison. The team consisted of four professional planners and architects from offices in Orlando, Florida, Pittsburgh and Seattle. They arrived March 24 and went to work the next morning.
The planning team started with a three-and-a-half-hour driving and walking tour of all of the kasernes and installation facilities. This allowed them to see first-hand the facilities and spatial relationships between kasernes. On the afternoon of March 25, the team started conducting a series of personal interviews with numerous individuals who live and work at the garrison.
Then on March 30, a three-day planning workshop started at Bismarck Kaserne. With a cross-section of attendees from all aspects of operations in Ansbach -- including the USAG Ansbach commander, Col. Christopher M. Benson -- the participants and team got to work.
The first step was defining the vision statement for the garrison. After three groups worked for a few hours on separate vision statements, all participants met to discuss their efforts. In the end, the three suggested statements were debated, argued and re-worked until the participants reached a consensus and Ansbach had its new vision statement:
"USAG Ansbach provides adaptable, sustainable, organized, and efficient facilities and infrastructure in safe and secure inter-connected campuses in order to support the mission while creating a superior quality of life and a ready and resilient community."
Once the vision was agreed upon, it was dissected into separate parts. Then, the group established a list of goals and objectives to define "success" for each part.
Participants scrutinized each kaserne, identifying "green space" (areas that foster community recreation and interaction, such as playing fields), community gathering points, formal and informal nodes of travel, and landmarks. At that point, they grouped kasernes into districts. For each of these districts, an Area Development Plan will be developed.
The Vision Planning Team members departed Ansbach on the evening of April 1. As they return to the states, they will take the work product the USAG Ansbach Team provided here and develop the overall plan. This professional document not only captures the vision of Ansbach for the next 20 years, but it will also be vital in securing funding to make this vision a reality.
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