getting to the bottom of sustainable comprehensive plans

Not Your Average Sustainability Session: Getting to the Bottom of Sustainable Comprehensive Plans

Massachusetts Association of Planning Directors Conference – June 5, 2014

Agenda

Sustainability Master Plan Defined

Why?

Principles

Process

Attributes and Elements

Implementation and Evaluation

Discussion and Questions

Deep Thoughts

Meet VHB

300+ employees in 4 offices around the MA

Integrated planning, transportation, land development & environmental services

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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

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.

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!

Sustainability Principles

• Livable built environment

• Harmony with nature

• Resilient economy

• Interwoven equity

• Healthy communities

• Responsible regionalism

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!

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

Process

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

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?

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

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

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?

Process – Create Meaningful, Accountable Implementation Plan

Use indicators and metrics

Monitor outcomes and goal progress

Commit resources

Assign responsibilities

Communicate your success!

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”

Attrib

ute

s and

Elem

en

ts

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

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!

Elements: Lowell

Implementation & Evaluation

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

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

Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell

Build support for existing projects:

Cambodia Town

Building and expanding bike lane infrastructure

Downtown two-way traffic conversion

Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell

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

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.

Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell

Open Space and Recreation Plan

– Combined planning processes

– Gathered data to support both plans

– Avoided planning fatigue

Implementation & Evaluation: Lowell

LowellStat– Building sustainability plan

goals into departmental goals

– Tracking progress

– Reporting back

– Numbers 4 Neighborhoods

Create/identify a champion

Institutionalize the Comprehensive Plan

Communicate!

Measure, track and report progress

Constantly identify new stakeholders

Implementation: Best Practices

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

Implementation: Greenfield

5. Track, measure, and report progress of implementing Sustainable Greenfield strategies

6. Identify and incorporate additional stakeholders into the implementation stage

Discussion and Questions

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?

If you don't know where you are going,you'll end up someplace else. -Yogi Berra

In absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia.

- Author Unknown

Angela Vincent | avincent@vhb.com | 603.305.5385

Craig Thomas | cthomas@lowellma.gov | 978.674.1445

Yovani Baez | ybaez@lowellma.gov | 978.674.1413