ID-227
How Good Is Your Comprehensive Plan?
Val Slack, Ag & Natural Resources Educator
Introduction
A community is best characterized by the makeup of its people and their
living and working conditions. Communities with attractive commercial
locations, well-kept residential areas, adequate parks and schools, and a
street system conducive to the speedy movement of pedestrian and vehicular
traffic will generally experience positive growth in both population and
economy.
A comprehensive plan attempts to bring definition to these features by
considering land as a community resource. Land is no different from any
other asset. There are uses for land that are more efficient than other
uses.
A community's current comprehensive plan may identify a broad pattern of
future land use, but it cannot foresee and answer in detail the host of
questions that will occur over time. If the comprehensive plan is, in
fact, a guide for moving the community from today to some point in the
future, it must be adaptable. So how can a comprehensive plan be made more
effective?
A lot of time, money, and effort go into the development and
implementation of a comprehensive plan. Here are a few suggestions to help
make the plan more useful to public decision-makers, developers, and local
residents.
- Make sure the plan serves current and near-future needs, as well as
long-term community goals. A useful question to consider is whether or not
the adopted policies will address day-to-day problems. If not, do something
to correct it.
- Set up study periods to go over the plan immediately after adoption
and periodically thereafter.
- Promote the plan. Try to stimulate those involved in the private
investment sector to support the development goals of the community.
- Make sure that the local officials who will carry out the plan are
adequately trained. The plan director, zoning administrator, plan
commission members, and the members of the board of zoning appeals are all
people who should have training.
- Use the plan as a reference point whenever a controversial issue
surfaces. Do not throw away all your careful planning just because
something unexpected comes up.
- Maintain a close working relationship with the county commissioners
and city council, and encourage them to use the plan.
- Encourage officials to include the cost of updating the plan in the
budgetary process.
How Is the Plan Amended?
After your community has adopted and used the plan for a period of time,
new and developing conditions might call for its amendment. Indiana
statutes provide for amendment; however, this authority should be used
with discretion. A plan's value can be diminished through too frequent or
capricious changes.
The procedure to amend a plan is similar to the plan adoption process. The
plan commission, the governing body or bodies, or local citizens may
propose an amendment to the plan, but any proposal must always be referred
to the plan commission for consideration. After it is referred to the plan
commission, the commission members review the proposal. They may refer it
to a study committee for recommendations. The commission then holds a
public hearing.
While evaluating an amendment, the commission should be sure that the
change fits the goals and policies of the comprehensive plan and that
special interest groups are not being given preferential treatment. In
addition, they should consider all impacts of the change. These might
include adverse effects to adjacent landowners, established commerce,
existing traffic patterns, public service delivery, and the ability to
meet the needs of low-income and minority groups.
After the public hearings have been held and evaluation completed, the
plan commission may adopt the proposed amendment and refer it to the
appropriate legislative body or bodies for review and adoption. An
amendment is not effective until the governing body has approved it.
Finally, the plan commission files the officially adopted amendment with
the county recorder, and the amend- ment becomes part of the revised plan.
How Often Should the Plan Be Revised?
The plan should be reviewed every three to five years. This ensures that
the study data and planning maps reflect current status. Policies may also
have to be updated. A review by a study committee may be simple in
communities that have grown little in recent years or quite elaborate in
communities that have witnessed rapid growth or change. The following
questions may help you during the review process.
- Can the goals, objectives, and policies be improved?
- Have population characteristics changed? If so, how will these changes
affect the jurisdiction in the future?
- Has the economy changed? What long-term effect will these changes
have?
- Has the natural environment been degraded or improved?
- What kind of development has been occurring and where? Is this kind of
development sought, or can and should changes in this trend be made?
- What impacts have federal and state regulations and funding had? Can
working relationships with other levels of government be improved?
- Are the transportation, recreation, and other public services needs of
residents being met?
The results of the review and revision study could very well reveal that
changes in the zoning ordinance, subdivision control ordinance, or other
developmental controls are needed. The study committee can identify some
of the specific areas most in need of attention and present
recommendations to the plan commission.
Conclusion
A comprehensive plan is somewhat like a new car, new home, or new
appliance. It needs to be checked, evaluated, fine tuned, and taken care
of in order to last a long time. A successful plan is action oriented,
balanced, community supported, and adaptable to change. How good is your
comprehensive plan? As good as you and your fellow citizens make it.
References & Additional Resources
Beaumont, C. 1996.Smart States, Better Communities.Washington, DC:
National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Chase, Rick.1999.Agricultural Land Protection in Indiana.ID-225.
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
Chase, Rick & Hutcheson, Scott. 1998.The Rural/Urban
Conflict.ID-221. Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
The Community Planning Handbook.1993. Indianapolis, Indiana. (A
joint publication of Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, Association
of Indiana Counties, and Indiana Planning Association.)
Daniels, T. & Bowers, D. 1997.Holding Our Ground: Protecting America's
Farms and Farmland.Washington, DC: Island Press.
Hutcheson, Scott. 1999.Plan Commission Public Hearings:A Citizen's
Guide. ID-224. Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
Indiana Land: Get Informed, Get Involved. 1997.Purdue University
Cooperative Extension Service.
Indiana Planning and Zoning Laws Annotated 1995 Edition.1995.
Charlottesville, VA: Michie Company. (Published under the auspices of
Indiana Continuing Legal Education Forum, Indiana Bar Association
Governmental Practices Section, and Indiana Planning Association, Inc.)
Slack, Val. 1999.Citizen Participation in Land Use Planning.ID-226.
Purdue University Cooperative Extension Service.
Zoning for Farming: A Guidebook for Pennsylvania Municipalities on How
to Protect Valuable Agricultural Lands.1995. Harrisburg, PA: Center
for the Rural Pennsylvania.
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