In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

55 T Comprehensive Planning Bringing It All Together Steve Smith, Kurt Gaertner, and Glenn Garber he previous chapters have provided an overview of the process of getting involved in local planning as well a lot of substantive knowledge about the typical subjects that cities and towns need to address. In this next section of the book, we move beyond responsive or single-item topics, and discuss how to get municipal policy set up so that the right thing becomes easier and neighbors don’t have to gear up for a fight each time a project is proposed . Instead, the idea is to have the community’s goals and hopes for its future supported by the municipal plans and zoning. This chapter describes the comprehensive planning process, which sets community policy for the long term. The next provides a discussion of zoning, which is the legal realization of all the plans, hopes, and dreams developed previously by the community. The section concludes with an explanation of Geographic Information System technology and its applications in making decisions about current and future land use. Comprehensive Plans: An Overview A comprehensive plan (also known as a master plan or general plan) is a statement of the desired future physical growth of a community, specifying the policies and programs the community intends to implement to attain that future. True to the title, a comprehensive plan is intended to cover all the major aspects of a community’s growth, change, and redevelopment, ranging from housing needs to infrastructure improvements, from economic enhancements to open space, historic preservation, and much more. It is both a broad vision for the community ’s future (whether a city, county, town, or region), and a slate of specific actions carefully thought through and designed to achieve that future state. Plans often have a twenty-year field of focus, but usually not longer, due to the difficulty of predicting beyond that point. Under ideal circumstances, a plan may be updated every five years, by either local decision or legislative mandate, but that is a goal not always attained, owing to the relatively high level of effort and expense inherent in comprehensive planning. 5 56 Developing aVision The goals, objectives, and actions involved in a comprehensive plan often result in major additions or changes to other community and regional policy documents, such as capital investment plans, zoning laws, subdivision control regulations, other laws and regulations, sewer and water improvement plans, and transportation initiatives. Of course, not all communities have a plan. In their recent publication Planning Communities for the 21st Century, the American Planning Association found that in 10 states comprehensive plans are optional, 25 states require a comprehensive plan only when a local planning commission is created by the community, and 15 states unconditionally mandate the development of a plan. Additionally, approximately two-thirds of the states have some sort of requirement that plans be generally consistent with zoning laws. While a plan is predominantly about the physical development of a community, it will of necessity reflect a community ’s social and economic goals, some of which will not have a directly physical expression. For example, the types of housing for which a community zones directly affect the affordability and desirability of housing. More than half the communities in Massachusetts allow only two-acre singlefamily houses as of right. Those who are not seeking such a home because they can’t afford it, prefer to rent, or lack the car such development requires will be forced to look elsewhere to find a place to live. Under the topic of economic development, examples without a direct physical planning aspect could include recommendations to form a community development corporation, or create a training partnership between local industry and high schools and community colleges, or establish a business improvement district. The typical comprehensive plan will include five types of information; often points 2 and 3 below are combined, but for our purposes it is helpful to consider them separately. 1. Community vision or broad goals: a general, conceptual agreement on what the community should be like at the end of the planning period, often up to 20 years. 2. Analytical pieces by topical element: existing conditions are documented, and then the collected data is employed in some detail to understand the problems and needs and point the way toward possible solutions. 3. Strategic pieces by topical element: policy options are considered and vetted; usually incorporated into the same topical element or chapter as #2 above...

Share