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Characteristics of General Development Plans

• Physical - guide to development; the how, why, when and where to build, rebuild, or preserve a community
• Long-Range - usually five years or more; effective plans express current policies that shape the future, rather than a rigid image of the future itself
• Comprehensive - covers the entire community geographically and encompasses all of the functions that make a city work including transportation, housing, land-use, public utilities, and recreation
• Statement of Policy - it covers community desires such as the quantity, character, location, and rate of growth and indicates how these desires are achieved
• Guide to Decision Making - they serve as a guide to local land use decisions

General development plans are meant to be dynamic documents; that is, the plan should change as conditions in the community change.

Function of General Development Plans

1. The plan is an expression of what a community wants. It is a statement of goals, a listing of objectives, and a vision of what might be.
2. The plan, once prepared, serves as a guide to decision-making. It provides the means for guiding and influencing the many public and private decisions that create the future of the community.
3. The plan in some cases may represent the fulfillment of a legal requirement. It may be a necessary obligation.

Components of a general plan (from the practice of local government planning):

1. Demographic conditions--including existing and future population and employment
2. Land use--including current and projected land use within the community and adjacent unincorporated areas
3. Transportation--including existing facilities and needed facilities for various modes
4. Community facilities--schools, parks, libraries, and other public facilities

Each component or Element usually includes:

1. A description of existing conditions - a sound information (or factual) base is required to determine needs and methods to meet them; it establishes the context for policies and recommendations; provides a record of conditions during prep; and educates citizens and decision-makers
   
2. A statement of Goals and Objectives - represent the plan’s statement of community desires; they provide direction for the plan.

• Goals are value based statements that are not necessarily measurable. For example: A community containing a balanced variety of housing types.
• Objectives are more specific, measurable statements of desired ends. For example: Increase the amount of multi-family units.

3. A description of future needs and proposals for meeting those needs - needs are derived from projections or forecasts that are exogenous to the plan, such as pop, em, trans patterns, as well as the recommendations; usually in the form of policies, programs, and projects.

• Policies are rules or courses of action that indicate how the goals and objectives of the plan should be realized

• Programs are a series or group of policies

• Projects are specific actions or recommendations and are the implementing tools for programs

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This page maintained by Bob Parker
January 08, 2002