Smart Growth Planning Working Session Highlights
June 9, 2009

MAPC launched its Local Smart Growth Planning campaign with a working session at its June 9th MetroFuture: From Plan to Action event.  This session was designed to help participants and MAPC learn more about local smart growth planning; share information on experiences, skills, and best practices; and consider how MAPC and MetroFuture can best be resources for local planning efforts.  The bulk of the region’s land use decisions are made at the local level, so MetroFuture’s many goals for growth and preservation depend on decisions made within municipalities.  MAPC seeks to provide strategies, data, decision support tools, alternative scenario analyses, and innovative methods of public engagement and learning to help those involved in creating local plans.  In this campaign, MAPC seeks partnerships with municipalities that are interested in integrating the tools, methods, and findings of MetroFuture into their planning activities. 

At the working session, MAPC’s Chief Housing Planner Jennifer Raitt made a presentation on the Malden Visioning and Master Planning efforts that have been underway over the past two years with MAPC assistance.  This process began with a visioning phase that involved residents through a series of ward-level workshops and a well-attended citywide visioning session.  The result was a concise vision statement for the community, organized into six different topic areas.  MAPC then used computer models to prepare different alternatives for residential development, each of which responded to different themes in the vision: one alternative emphasized single family homes, one emphasized slow growth, and one focused development in the downtown and local business districts.  These alternatives were presented at a community meeting through a series of photographs, maps, and simple charts that compared various outcomes such as housing opportunities, local spending power, and access to transit.  After discussion, participants overwhelmingly chose the “Center and Squares” alternative, which also most reflects the MetroFuture priorities.  MAPC is now working with the city to develop zoning to implement that plan. 

During the table discussions following Jenny’s presentation, participants covered many different issues relevant to MetroFuture and regional planning.  Among the common themes and suggestions most relevant to MAPC’s Smart Growth Plans Campaign are the following: 

• Visualization and facilitation are critical; 
• MAPC needs to develop and help implement new tools for picturing smart growth versus ‘business as usual.’ 
• A “smart growth sales force” organized by MAPC could help to educate and advocate for MetroFuture-consistent plans at the local level. 
• MAPC should also develop and disseminate techniques to use technology to gather information from the public, not just disseminate information about plans. 
• It is important to look across municipal boundaries in order to plan effectively, because some communities may be more appropriate for growth or preservation.  
• Planning should be ongoing and proactive, rather than episodic and reactive.  For example, communities should plan ahead for the development or preservation of large parcels of private or public land. 
• The state should provide strong incentives for local planning (e.g., some funding should be contingent on the existence of a Master Plan and consistency with zoning.) 

MAPC continues to analyze notes documenting the discussion in the local smart growth planning working session, and will incorporate ideas and lessons, as well as invite session participants, to take part in the Local Smart Growth Planning campaign.

Click here to download the working session background paper as a pdf.

For more information, visit the Local Smart Growth campaign page.