[Massplanners] Dynamic Master Plan

[Corrin Meise-Munns]

Hello Katrina,

I am also interested in following this thread as we are in the process of
updating our 2004 Long Range Plan, and I am starting to think about what an
Implementation Committee might look like and what their charge might be.

A couple of questions about what your Master Plan Chair has in mind: is he
looking for subject matter updates, to keep the plan current to planning
best practices and how public sentiment may have changed over every few
years? Or is he more interested in updating the plan to track which of the
original recommendations have been completed, which are in progress, which
have been abandoned...etc?

It seems that the latter interest could be more easily accomplished by
keeping a living spreadsheet or other such tracker on the Town website.
That could keep residents informed about progress. The former seems pretty
time and resource intensive to me, and you would run the risk of engagement
burnout as well.


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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:40:18 +0000
From: Katrina O'leary <katrina.oleary at middletonma.gov>
To: "Listserv (massplanners at masscptc.org)" <massplanners at masscptc.org>
Subject: [Massplanners] Dynamic Master Plan
Message-ID: <f0cc23fe55504505b3f8e920bcfd69a7 at middletonma.gov>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Do any communities update their Master Plan more regularly than every 10
-20 years?  My Master Plan committee chair is wonderful - and creative.  He
proposed updating new chapters of the Master Plan every couple of years so
it is always "current."  I see many problems with this, mostly due to the
fact that the citizen engagement for each of these regular updates wouldn't
be as robust as a Master Plan update done every decade or more.   There
would also be a lack of the overall "vision" that is so important to focus
on while updating your plan.

I told him I'd post the question on the listserv to see if any communities
had experience with more dynamic Master Plans.

Do any communities update their Master Plan piece by piece on a regular
basis?  Has it worked for you?

Katrina O'Leary, AICP
Middleton Town Planner
195 North Main Street     Middleton, MA   01949     PH: (978)777-8917
When responding, please be aware that the Massachusetts Secretary of State
has determined that most email is public record and, therefore, cannot be
kept confidential.
-- 
*Corrin Meise-Munns* *(she/her)*
Assistant Town Manager / Director of Planning & Community Development
Town of Longmeadow, MA
(413) 565-4110
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