Getting to the Bottom of Sustainable Comprehensive Plans
1. Not Your Average Sustainability
Session: Getting to the Bottom of
Sustainable Comprehensive Plans
Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors Conference – June 5, 2014
2. Agenda
Sustainability Master Plan Defined
Why?
Principles
Process
Attributes and Elements
Implementation and Evaluation
Discussion and Questions
Deep Thoughts
3. Meet VHB
300+ employees in 4 offices
around the MA
Integrated planning,
transportation, land
development &
environmental services
Innovative tools and
resources to meet your needs
4. City of Lowell, MA
Lowell is home is just over 106,000
residents, making it the fourth largest
city in the Commonwealth
Plan E form of government
Creative economy central to rebirth of
City – approx. 200 live/work studios
and 250 active artist studios
UMass Lowell expansion: 7 new
buildings since 2012 and 45% increase
in student enrollment in the last 6
years to a total of 17,000
Lowell General Hospital anchors
strong medical field
5. Two Terms Defined:
A Sustainability Comprehensive Plan focuses on the long-term viability of
the economic, environmental, social and cultural aspects of communities and
regions.
• APA provides one definition, “…[a] plan to meet the needs of current and
future generations without compromising the ecosystems upon which
they depend by balancing social, economic, and environmental resources,
incorporating resilience, and linking local actions to regional and global
concerns.”
A Sustainable Comprehensive Plan is an active, living document with
engaged stakeholders and active projects that remains at the forefront of
development and planning actions.
6. Why do a Sustainability Comprehensive Plan?
Incorporate sustainability
principles into planning and
decision-making
Create more resilient, livable
communities
Plan for all critical
infrastructure, resource
needs and potential impacts
(heat island, flooding, etc.)
Keep up with the times!
9. Sustainability Comprehensive Plans should…
Link with current redevelopment
initiatives
Include a comprehensive
background review to establish
community consensus
Seek wide-scale buy-in and
develop diverse stakeholders to
carry plan goals and strategies
forward
Track progress of quantifiable
objectives; many goals cannot be
easily tracked, and that’s OK!
10. Our Experiences
Greenfield
2012-2013
Builds upon existing planning
efforts including Sustainable
Franklin County
250+ people attended workshops
550+ ideas generated
40+ Master Plan Advisory
Committee meetings
Used MindMixer for ongoing,
virtual participation
Lowell
2010-2013
Update to 2003 Master Plan with
a comprehensive sustainability
vision
Engaged 800+ people in data
collection, 175+ in innovative
planning tool (Community PlanIt)
Multi-language visioning sessions
attended by more than 160
stakeholders
Approved by Council Spring 2013
12. Engagement
• Diverse participation
• Departments and municipal staff
• Transparent decisions
• Disadvantaged leadership
• Ongoing information
• Community-wide & neighborhood
involvement
• Social media use
• Mix it up!
Authentic Participation Build Lasting Buy-In
Design the plan development
process to link with implementation
• Think about critical stakeholders and
have them help shape the vision from
the start
• Look for ways to integrate with
emerging initiatives
• Engaged stakeholders and links to
new initiatives create built-in
implementation oversight and
actions
13. Process – Do your Homework
What other planning processes
are currently happening?
– Understand planning
environment
– Beware planning fatigue!
What has your community/region
engaged in recently?
What other entities may be
embarking on a similar process?
14. Process – Analyze Existing Conditions
Collect data
Engage stakeholders at all levels
Look at existing local plans
Look at Regional/State Plans
Set the stage for consensus
15. Process – Create a Vision and Set Goals
Develop a vision for the plan and
create realistic goals
You don’t need a lot of goals…less is
more!
Goals should define where you want
to be in X number of years, i.e., in 10
Years…
Ask questions to get the answers
16. Process – Develop Realistic Strategies
Strategies achieve the goals
Keep it simple
Remember – you want to be able to
implement these
Are they conflicting with other
strategies in the plan?
What does this look like in 5-10
years?
17. Process – Create Meaningful, Accountable
Implementation Plan
Use indicators and metrics
Monitor outcomes and goal progress
Commit resources
Assign responsibilities
Communicate your success!
18. Process – Evaluation Criteria
A set of conditions or principles that
measure how an action is consistent
with sustainability goals
Help to prioritize and organize actions
for implementation
Can be updated and reassessed to
help the community reprioritize
based on changing conditions
Is helpful in dealing with “Master Plan
paralysis”
21. Elements: Greenfield
Traditional chapters plus….
Climate adaptation
Energy efficiency
Food access
Health and wellness
Social services
Renewable energy
Or….integrate these into the
traditional chapters!
24. Developed our plan with implementation as a priority:
Focused on engaging groups critical to our objectives, including:
residents and business owners in redevelopment areas; and service
providers who will be critical leaders for community-based actions
Facilitated discussions that gave like-minded people a chance to
connect, explore ideas and build coalitions
Offered creative use of city resources to support projects furthering
plan goals
Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
25. Collaborative projects emerge from
public and staff consensus building
– Example: Mill City Grows, partner NPO,
focused on the production and
consumption of locally grown food
– Community garden program and urban
farming
Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
26. Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Build support for existing projects:
Cambodia Town
Building and expanding bike lane
infrastructure
Downtown two-way traffic conversion
Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
27. Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Reimagining Plans
Downtown Evolution Plan
Hamilton Canal District Plan
JAM Urban Revitalization Plan
Building Plans
Ayer’s City Industrial Park
Open Space and Recreation Plan
Lowell’s Cultural Plan
28. Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Ayer’s City Industrial Park should be an
active, economically vital, attractive,
environmentally and economically
sustainable commercial/industrial
district that:
– Supports and enhances existing businesses;
– Attracts new development/businesses that
create jobs and support the City’s tax base;
– Provides attractive multi-modal
links/connections to and between adjacent
residential and commercial districts; and,
– Enhances appreciation of and connection to
natural resources.
29. Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Open Space and Recreation Plan
– Combined planning processes
– Gathered data to support both plans
– Avoided planning fatigue
30. Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
LowellStat
– Building sustainability plan
goals into departmental goals
– Tracking progress
– Reporting back
– Numbers 4 Neighborhoods
31. Create/identify a champion
Institutionalize the Comprehensive
Plan
Communicate!
Measure, track and report progress
Constantly identify new stakeholders
Implementation: Best Practices
32. Implementation: Greenfield
1. Create a Sustainable
Greenfield Implementation
Committee
2. Promote the results of
Sustainable Greenfield
often
3. Use the Sustainable Master
Plan as the Go-To reference
for all Town projects
33. Implementation: Greenfield
5. Track, measure, and report
progress of implementing
Sustainable Greenfield
strategies
6. Identify and incorporate
additional stakeholders into
the implementation stage
35. Discussion
What are obstacles to
creating a:
– Sustainable Comp Plan
– Sustainability Comp Plan?
What elements are the most
challenging?
How do we ensure
implementation?
What resources/information
do you need?
36. If you don't know where you are going,
you'll end up someplace else. -Yogi Berra
37. In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely
loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
- Author Unknown
38. Angela Vincent | avincent@vhb.com | 603.305.5385
Craig Thomas | cthomas@lowellma.gov | 978.674.1445
Yovani Baez | ybaez@lowellma.gov | 978.674.1413