WHATELY — As the town prepares to undertake its master planning process to chart out Whately’s next 15 years, it is seeking residents’ input for Phase 1.

With the last update to the town’s master plan coming in 2011, Whately, in partnership with the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG), is launching a long-running planning process that will outline the community’s priorities and the challenges it faces in the future.

“This will be comprehensive; it will not be just an update to the previous one, but a new master plan,” said Community Development Administrator Sylvie Jensen. “We will come up with goals and objectives as a community and we hope to have as much engagement as possible.”

While public engagement is encouraged throughout the planning process, the town is looking toward residents in this initial phase by publishing a survey requesting feedback on what people like about Whately, what issues they think are important and other recommendations they have for the town’s growth.

The survey will remain open for an extended period of time and can be accessed by visiting a new website at whatelyplans.org/engagement. Paper copies of the survey are also available at the S. White Dickinson Memorial Library and the Town Offices. The survey will close on Feb. 29.

While Jensen said the plan is about “keeping our priorities in mind and helping us formulate more concrete goals for the town,” a master plan is also required by Massachusetts General Law.

In these early stages, Jensen said housing and environmental resilience will likely be two of the top priorities, as those two topics are ones that Whately has been considering often over the last year. The Housing Committee and Planning Board published a housing production plan with FRCOG in recent months and while the town avoided the significant damage its neighbors sustained, last summer’s rainstorms were a reminder that climate disaster can strike at any time.

“I think that has been pretty prevalent, thinking more about what we want to do with housing accessibility in the town moving forward,” she said, adding that “there’s always and going to continue to be an emphasis” on the environment because the town is an agricultural community.

As the planning process gets underway, Jensen said officials will hold listening sessions with the community, so folks can have the opportunity to share feedback in person. The first will be scheduled sometime this spring.

Residents are also encouraged to take part in the steering committee that is guiding the process by contacting Jensen at communitydevelopment@whately.org.

For more information about Whately’s master planning process, visit whatelyplans.org.

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.