Using Consultants for Community Comprehensive Planning

When a community decides to develop or update its comprehensive plan, it is immediately plagued by a number of decisions regarding how should they develop it, what should be contained in it, how professional assistance should be used, and what form it should take.

In the main, many communities having no, or a small, planning staff turn to professional planning consultants for assistance in the endeavor. This results in the establishment of a consultant selection process which can be as short as hiring the one firm someone knows about or utilizing a full scale "Request for Proposal" process.

Consultant selection is important since the developed plan will bear the mark of the consultant as well as the community. Therefore, it is useful to first agree upon the type of consultant desired and then the purpose of the comprehensive plan update before embarking upon the consultant selection process.

All consultants have, or should have, a particular approach to comprehensive planning - similar to doctors, lawyers, economists and other professionals. Planning consultants are not all alike in skills, approach, philosophy, and experience; community comprehensive planning is different from other forms of urban planning - it is not regional planning, metropolitan planning, corridor planning, project planning, or site planning. Because a consultant has experience in site planning or metropolitan planning does not mean that they are a skilled or experienced community comprehensive planner. Therefore, the selection of a planning consultant for comprehensive planning purposes should reflect an understanding and agreement with the consultant's view as to the purpose of the plan development and the approach they will use.

Such an understanding can easily be articulated by the consultant. While a consultant can bring sound technical skills and an objective viewpoint to the planning process, the key to developing a realistic and usable plan is to have the policies and programs for action emerge from the desires and capabilities of the community. To do this, the role and function of the consultant - for the duration of the project and within the immediate period following plan adoption - is to act as the technical area of the planning commission. This viewpoint is the result of several strongly held convictions borne out by experience in the comprehensive planning process, as well as in the implementation of such plans. Among these convictions

1. A plan is used only if it truly represents the political and social aspirations commonly held by the community and is responsive to the needs of its decision-makers.
2. A plan is used only if its intent is clearly understood at the outset and its format flexible enough to respond to the changing problems, needs, and desires of the community.
3. A plan is used only if it can be understood by the community's decision-makers and if it fits into the process of local community development.

Comprehensive planning is not an end in itself. Rather, the process and the product represent a tool to guide the Plan Commission and Board of Trustees in making growth management and redevelopment decisions. Such decisions encompass many aspects of community management, including subdivision, rezoning, annexation, historic preservation, economic development, housing, redevelopment, capital improvement and community design.

To develop such a plan it is important that the consultant charged with developing the plan clearly understands the aspirations of the community and the limitations of the real world. Secondly, it is important that the local decision-makers accept the consultant as a professional who understands the needs and aspirations of the community. That is, it is necessary that a trusting relationship is built between the consultant and the client - staff, Planning Commission, or City Council - and through them, the community as a whole.

The Purpose of the Comprehensive Plan

A comprehensive plan (or master plan) is a guide for moving a community from today to some point in the future. Just as a business or corporation may adopt a long-range strategic plan for their company, a community must also plan for its future through the development of a comprehensive plan. The process of comprehensive planning and the final product represents a tool to guide Planning Commissions, Zoning Boards, and local governing officials in making municipal policies and development decisions. These decisions encompass many aspects of community management, including subdivision, zoning, annexation, historic preservation, economic development, housing, redevelopment, capital improvement and community design. In developing such a plan, it is important that it serve the following purposes.

It should provide a clear and supportable statement of the type of future that is desired.

This statement must consist of:

• Goals: Community derived statements of aspirations
• Objectives: Statements of how the goals will be achieved
• Plans: Supportable illustrations of how the community should develop over time in terms of land use, transportation improvements, community, facilities, etc.
• Policies and Programs: Supportable rules for decision-making, courses of action to gain the objectives and projects which can move the community toward its vision of the future

It should identify needed capital improvements.

Public improvements, such as transportation, utility and other community capital improvements, provide the community's primary method of directing growth so as to reach the "vision" of the plan. As such, a strong emphasis upon the type, phasing, cost and financial resources for such improvements is a necessary component of the plan.

The plan must provide a realistic basis for the use of zoning and other land use and redevelopment controls and incentives.

This is one of the most important and traditional purposes of the plan. By itself, the comprehensive plan is not an implementation tool. To implement the plan, the community must make sure that its implementation strategies - zoning, subdivision, economic development actions, capital improvement programs, etc. - truly reflect the plan. Respect for the aspects of these ordinances which cannot, or should not, be modified without great forethought is necessary. For example, the plan should not suggest modifications of land use if subsequent changes in zoning would cause inappropriate changes in design or economic function. Clearly, while a plan is a basis for the stipulation of zoning districts, it should suggest changes only after major investigation of the impact of those changes.

The plan must provide a defensible basis for unanticipated redevelopment, annexation, rezoning, and other growth management and growth inducing actions.

While the major elements of the plan can identify a broad future pattern of land use, community boundaries, transportation improvements and other capital actions, it cannot foresee and answer in detail the host of questions which will occur over time. For example, while future zoning should reflect the plan, there will always be rezoning requests which are not wholly anticipated or answered in detail by the plan. However, if it is to remain useful, the plan should provide a basis for judging the merit and impact of such requests of external actions. To that end, a major element of plan development is the formulation of guidelines, principles and standards for judging future rezonings, reaction to major development or redevelopment proposals, staging utility improvements, and granting of annexations. The development of such information as part of the plan can go a long way to assure that a realistic, flexible and useable plan results.

It should serve as a source of common information.

Community growth and improvement decisions are made by a host of boards and commissions which have a constantly evolving membership. To assure that these decisions are made from a common basis of information, and to assure that new local officials have such an information resource, it is necessary that the plan provide enough information to facilitate sound and informed judgments. This does not mean that the document should merely be an inventory of what exists. Indeed, the bulk of community plans place too much emphasis on the details of today with limited emphasis on the needs of tomorrow.

Comprehensive Plans...

Comprehensive plans are not all alike for they must vary to suit the needs and resources of the community. In some communities a plan can be an area-wide land use and transportation map with supporting policy and implementation actions. In other communities, it must emphasize detailed subareas to foster the improvement and development of specific parcels of land. However, in all cases, the intent of the plan and the planning process should be the same: the formulation of a document and a continuing process which is appropriate, realistic, and can be readily administered by the Plan Commission and other boards to guide the growth and development of the city.