After several months of gathering feedback from residents, the town of Tisbury identified some clear long-term goals, including strengthening its year-round community, improving parking and traffic, creating a vibrant town center, and making better use of public spaces.

Using data collected from several workshop sessions in the fall, Tisbury officials are moving forward with a visioning process that outlines the town’s priorities and goals for the future.

Eight goals were identified and presented at a well-attended public meeting last Thursday, with attendees given surveys and asked for their opinions on how best to tackle the town’s long-term goals.

During the workshops, residents were asked to create lists of Tisbury’s so-called treasures as well as areas of improvement, and to create a mission statement for the town. Later sessions focused on areas of interest, such as bicycle and pedestrian access, that were singled out from the lists. The goals evolved from these rough outlines.

Once the results of the final survey are analyzed, they will be presented at a future board of selectmen meeting so the town can begin to focus on concrete actions.

“Vision planning is a collaborative process, so your participation has been critical,” selectman Jonathan Snyder said to the crowd of more than 40 people on Thursday.

“I think it’s exciting to see some tangible results out of this,” vision planning coordinator and town planning board member Cheryl Doble said. “Really, this is where the rubber hits the road.”

Though workshop participants had been optimistic about the future of the town, they nevertheless saw much in Tisbury that needed improvement. Chief among the challenges faced by the community, according to the sessions, were the condition of buildings and properties in town, as well as government and management. Safety issues, particularly in terms of bicycles and pedestrians, also topped the list.

The state of bike paths and sidewalks in town is “pretty dismal,” Mrs. Doble said. Some pointed out the dangerous conditions on State Road, which was listed as “unwelcoming” to both bicycles and pedestrians. Main street and William street were listed as the best places to walk, but many sidewalks are discontinuous, leaving Tisbury without a true network of paths. Creating this network was one of the goals to emerge from the process.

The network of walking paths meshed neatly with another area listed as a priority: developing and increasing access to Tisbury’s open spaces. Mrs. Doble noted that even areas that saw a great deal of use, such as Veterans Memorial Park, were being underutilized, as the park only attracts crowds in the evening hours.

Mrs. Doble said the importance of public space came through when residents presented their ideas for the downtown area.

“This one was fascinating to me,” she said. People wanted a vibrant town center, and when asked to define what “vibrant” meant, Mrs. Doble said, they returned to the idea of public space.

“People really like hanging out and just watching,” she said.