I once had a vision, and then I got married and soon discovered that talking my lovely bride into living on my 1960s cabin cruiser on Melvern Lake perhaps was going to require more persuasion than I once thought. What I’m saying is: Some visions are better than others. Perhaps you are unaware, but Lawrence and Douglas County are trying to craft their own vision, and now you get a chance to provide feedback.

A steering committee is working on updating a massive document known as Horizon 2020, which is the city and county’s long range, comprehensive plan. You may think such a work group would have to be sponsored by No Doz, and you may be right. There’s a whole lot of wonk in that document.

But Horizon 2020 also ends up being at the center of a lot of debates that have real-life consequences. Should downtown get a bunch of new multistory buildings? Should we convert some of the prime ag ground in the Kaw Valley into valuable industrial property? Should we build a new shopping center at the southern edge of town? All those questions and more end up coming back to this Horizon 2020 document.

Members of the public tonight will get the first of several chances to weigh in on how the plan ought to be changed. The steering committee will take public comment in an open-house type of format from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and then from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at City Hall.

A community vision may draw some comments, because one thing Horizon 2020 doesn’t have much of is vision. There are approximately three people who have read the entire plan, and two of the three have told me that there is not a vision statement in the document. (The third said, “forget it,” and is now living on a 1950s pontoon on an undisclosed large farm pond. He is unmarried.)

I joke some because I know Horizon 2020 talk can cause some eyes to glaze over. But there really isn’t anything called a “vision” in our community’s comprehensive plan. There is an item, however, called a “general goal.” Here it is, folks. The goal we all have been working toward: “The overall community goal for planning is to provide, within the range of democratic and constitutional processes, for the optimum in public health, safety, convenience, general social and physical environment and individual opportunities for all the residents of the community, regardless of racial, ethnic, social or economic origin. It is the goal of the planning process to achieve a maximum of individual freedom, but public welfare must prevail. It is the intent to meet and safeguard individual rights and vested interests in a manner which will create the minimum disruption in individual freedoms and life values.”

It is amazing that we don’t quote that more often.

To be fair, Horizon 2020 really was crafted to help professional planners — think of officials in the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department — understand how to craft, implement and enforce various codes and rules. It wasn’t really meant to be our guiding light.

Talk in recent years has shifted, however, to whether Lawrence and Douglas County would benefit by having a more overarching community vision. I like to think of its as: What do we want to be?

Well, a draft report by this new Horizon 2020 work group includes a vision statement. Here it goes: “The City of Lawrence and rural Douglas County is one of the most desirable places in the United States to call home. A well educated community with a unique free state spirit, we are diverse, publicly engaged, and boldly innovative. We are prosperous, with full? employment and a broad tax base. Our development is human-scale and our vibrant neighborhoods are livable, allowing people to age in place. We have ample choices for safe, efficient transportation including bicycling, walking and transit. The City’s lively and historic downtown attracts residents and visitors for commerce and cultural arts. Our citizens value preserving and enhancing the natural environment for our enjoyment and for future generations. The proximity of rural and agricultural land to the city provides beauty and respite, and we enjoy the economic and health benefits of a robust local food system. We make?Lawrence and rural Douglas County a place where creativity thrives, sustainability is a way of life, and community pride is contagious.”

I think I’ve figured out what Lawrence and Douglas County want to become: the place where you have to take a very deep breath before you endeavor to read our vision statement or “general goal.”

Again, I joke. But there probably is a question about whether that vision statement is the type of focused goal that leaders easily can keep at the top of their minds. But don’t get me wrong. There are some important statements in there, and several that can lead to a lot of debate in the future. Let’s look at a few points:

• “We are prosperous, with full employment and a broad tax base.” At the moment, Lawrence has one of the lower per capita income numbers in the state and its tax base is heavy in the residential area and light in the commercial and industrial area.

• “Our development is human-scale, and our vibrant neighborhoods are livable, allowing people to age in place.” This has the potential to change how neighborhoods are designed in the future, especially making them more friendly to retirees.

• “We have ample choices for safe, efficient transportation including bicycling, walking and transit.” The idea of Lawrence relying less on automobiles has been on the minds of some for decades. How this plan is rewritten in that regard will go a long way in determining how our street system, sidewalks and trails are built in the future.

• “The proximity of rural and agricultural land to the city provides beauty and respite, and we enjoy the economic and health benefits of a robust local food system.” An old point of contention has been whether we should convert some of the prime agricultural land that is near Interstate 70 to industrial uses. This statement seems to indicate the issue is settled. Ag land, in our vision statement, gets more mention than industrial land.

But perhaps the most interesting phrase in the entire goal statement is “we are diverse, publicly engaged, and boldly innovative.” Boldly innovative. What are some example of how we have been boldly innovative in the recent past? What are some ideas of how we will be boldly innovative in the future? I’m not saying we don’t have the ability to be boldly innovative, but in covering city government for the last couple of decades, I’ve heard more discussion about “catching up” — think infrastructure, economic development and curbside recycling, to name a few.

How to be boldly innovative in the future could be a fascinating — and a very important — conversation. But, of course, that’s just my thought. And as my wife can attest, she often has to take my initial thoughts and make them better.

That’s why the steering committee wants to hear from you tonight.