Colorado Sprawl Action
Center's
Growth Management Toolkit
Table of Contents | Introduction | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
Comprehensive
Planning:
Problem | Solution | Applications
| Internet Resources
Problem
 |
| Increased traffic is one of many negative impacts associated with unplanned growth. |
Across Colorado developments are approved despite conflicts with community vision and long-term planning. Approving annexations, developments, transportation projects, and even open space purchases without a well thought out comprehensive plan is a recipe for disaster. Likewise, having a plan that is ignored in the face of specific proposals can also result in a lack of long-term vision.
The majority of Coloradans want their communities to have comprehensive plans that are enforceable, have the weight of law, and serve as the community’s guiding blueprint. Currently, however, binding comprehensive plans exist in only a handful of communities. Under current Colorado state law master plans are “advisory” in nature and not binding. Some local governments have made their plans binding through other means. In others, city councils or county commissions can vote to override or change the plan at any time – making successful long-term planning difficult.
The current lack of binding comprehensive plans creates a lack of certainty for communities and those wishing to develop in those communities. As a result, many communities experience intense lobbying by private interests, outraged citizen groups, and a frustrated planning department that too often is asked to evaluate each new proposal as an individual part, separate from the larger perspective of the comprehensive plan.
Solution
A well-crafted and enforceable comprehensive plan benefits every stakeholder in the community. Residents know what to expect for their neighborhoods. Developers can understand the clearly defined rules and zoning and thereby remove time consuming and costly guesswork from their operations. Long-term goals can be visualized, acted upon, and implemented for the benefit of current and future generations.
Effective comprehensive plans should contain a range of specified elements. Effective comprehensive plans should address land use designations, environmental quality throughout the plan area, water quantity and quality, transportation issues including multi modal options, as well as outline projected essential community services and their fiscal impacts. They should state community approved quality of life goals and standards, delineate future growth areas and areas targeted for infill, state target densities, set zoning, plan for future services, link transportation planning to land use planning, and include basic design standards to be used for new developments and infill projects to ensure some basic architectural consistency in an area.
| “It is important to emphasize that smart growth is not anti-growth. The myriad problems caused by sprawl are not problems of growth per se. They are problems of inefficient unplanned growth.” (from David Bollier, “How Smart Growth Can Stop Sprawl”) |
The more detailed the plans, the greater the certainty for all stakeholders involved, and the less fractured the process for government agencies, residents, and developers.
All stakeholders need to be involved from the early stages of this process. As a result, intensive public input must be solicited in the beginning, and not at the end of the process. Efforts to inform stakeholders of the plans at the beginning of their conceptualization will help ensure the viability of the plans for years to come.
Finally, comprehensive plans should be legally binding. Even the best plan will not reach its full potential if it can too easily be circumvented or ignored. A lack of long term planning or adherence to a plan can result in many problems and financial shortfalls.
Poll after poll show that the majority of citizens desire comprehensive plans that have the force of law and serve as the collective vision for their community’s future.
Applications
Local:
Communities can develop plans to reflect where and how they would like their
communities to grow. These plans should include elements such as land use
designations (e.g. residential, mixed use, open space, commercial), environmental
considerations, infrastructure plans, fiscal considerations, and transportation.
Local governments should make a concerted effort to engage their residents to create a binding and enforceable comprehensive plan for the communities they serve. For some this will be a first attempt at gathering extensive comments on a comprehensive plan. For others, this process will facilitate a review and update of existing plans to ensure that the plans are, in fact, in line with the priorities of the community. Seeking substantial citizen and stakeholder input should help to ensure maximum satisfaction with and minimum conflict surrounding the final draft.
Adjacent municipalities and counties should be contacted and their input sought to create intergovernmental cooperation. In this way neighboring jurisdictions may coordinate plans rather than compete in a race to develop. This will help ensure an effective regional solution to what is increasingly a regional problem (for more on Intergovernmental Agreements, please see our fact sheet on that topic).
Finally, under current Colorado law comprehensive or “master” plans are advisory only. Therefore, the plans must be made binding indirectly —for instance, through adoption into ordinance or other means.
State:
Now that Colorado has joined the ranks of the fastest growing states, it is
particularly important that the state provide leadership on the issue of comprehensive
planning. The state should require the development of binding comprehensive
plans by local governments and provide guidance regarding a minimum set of
planning elements and standards for public participation.
Plans should be binding and address a meaningful range of growth related issues including the following: land use designations, infrastructure, environmental quality, transportation, fiscal considerations, and water supply. Finally, the state should provide financial and technical assistance to smaller communities.
 |
Comprehensive land use planning, especially when linked to transportation planning, can help prevent sprawl. |
Internet Resources
www.apacolorado.org
Colorado chapter of American Planning Association
http://bus.colorado.edu/realestate/gma
The Growth Management Alliance with the CU Real Estate Center—contains section
on comprehensive plans.
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/lwv/success/reality.html
"Comprehensive Plans Meet Reality" By: League of Women Voters
www.mrsc.org/planning/compplan.htm
"Comprehensive Planning/Growth Management" By: Municipal Research & Services
Center
www.smartgrowth.org
Smart Growth Network, U.S. EPA
Table of Contents | Introduction | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11
