getting to the bottom of sustainable comprehensive plans
DESCRIPTION
VHB Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc City of LowellTRANSCRIPT
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Not Your Average Sustainability Session: Getting to the Bottom of Sustainable Comprehensive Plans
Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors Conference – June 5, 2014
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Agenda
Sustainability Master Plan Defined
Why?
Principles
Process
Attributes and Elements
Implementation and Evaluation
Discussion and Questions
Deep Thoughts
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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
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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
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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.
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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!
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Sustainability Principles
• Livable built environment
• Harmony with nature
• Resilient economy
• Interwoven equity
• Healthy communities
• Responsible regionalism
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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!
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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
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Process
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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
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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?
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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
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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
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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?
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Process – Create Meaningful, Accountable Implementation Plan
Use indicators and metrics
Monitor outcomes and goal progress
Commit resources
Assign responsibilities
Communicate your success!
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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”
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Attrib
ute
s and
Elem
en
ts
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Attributes
Consistent Content
• Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities & threats
• Set measurable objectives
• Layout future vision
• Maps, tables, graphics, & summaries
Coordinated Characteristics
• Comprehensive--cover all relevant topics
• Coordinated--vertically & horizontally
• Integrated--include other plans’ recommendations
• Persuasive--communicate clearly
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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!
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Elements: Lowell
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Implementation & Evaluation
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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
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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
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Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Build support for existing projects:
Cambodia Town
Building and expanding bike lane infrastructure
Downtown two-way traffic conversion
Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
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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
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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.
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Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
Open Space and Recreation Plan
– Combined planning processes
– Gathered data to support both plans
– Avoided planning fatigue
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Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell
LowellStat– Building sustainability plan
goals into departmental goals
– Tracking progress
– Reporting back
– Numbers 4 Neighborhoods
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Create/identify a champion
Institutionalize the Comprehensive Plan
Communicate!
Measure, track and report progress
Constantly identify new stakeholders
Implementation: Best Practices
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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
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Implementation: Greenfield
5. Track, measure, and report progress of implementing Sustainable Greenfield strategies
6. Identify and incorporate additional stakeholders into the implementation stage
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Discussion and Questions
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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?
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If you don't know where you are going,you'll end up someplace else. -Yogi Berra
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In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.
- Author Unknown
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Angela Vincent | [email protected] | 603.305.5385
Craig Thomas | [email protected] | 978.674.1445
Yovani Baez | [email protected] | 978.674.1413