The Vision 2020 idea submission project is drawing to a close.

Friday, Oct. 14, is the last day local residents can submit ideas to make Austin a better community. Vision 2020 organizers say the group doesn’t have an exact idea count since volunteers are sorting through so many paper submissions. Yet there were about 2,900 ideas Wednesday according to the Vision 2020 web site and a whole lot more on paper.

“It’s very hard for us to tell (the exact number) other than it’s a lot,” said Laura Helle, Hormel Historic Home Director and Vision 2020 organizer. “Saying 3,000 to 4,000 wouldn’t be a stretch.”

Organizers were surprised at how many ideas came in, more than they expected. Their original goal was about 1,500 ideas.

“We doubled our expectations,” said Gary Ray, incoming chairman of the Hormel Foundation and Vision 2020 organizer.

Once the idea submission wraps up, organizers will put together an idea selection committee that will work to pare the submissions down to 100 ideas. Helle said the committee will start on Nov. 1, the same day that Vision 2020 organizers hope to publish the list of ideas people in Austin came up with.

The community will vote on the 100 ideas, narrowing the list to 30 by January or February of 2012, depending on when voting starts. Next, the committee takes over again, finalizing the top 10 ideas by March 2012. From there, the group will begin work on making those ideas a reality by 2020.