What is Planning?

Planning – in the context of urban planning for the City of Milton – is the analysis of past trends to anticipate future needs and desires, while honoring the complexity of the community and its important historical and cultural elements. The goal of planning is to help citizens and public officials make informed decisions about the future based on a thorough evaluation of current needs and past actions. In this sense, planning can be viewed as an aid to decision making. However, it is not a substitute for it.

What is the Planning Process?

The planning process is how the city goes about developing, implementing and updating a plan. It includes the opportunity for input from many sources at multiple stages, and key decision points. As decisions are made, the progression from general concepts to specific policies occurs, and the specific strategies and policies of the plan take shape.

The term “planning process” suggests the on-going or cyclical nature of planning, and Figure 1 illustrates this cyclical cycle. Looking at it in a general form in Figure 1, the planning process attempts to answer a series of questions.

• What do we have and what needs do we anticipate in terms of population growth, housing, transportation, etc? (Research and Analysis).
• What do we want? For example, what does the citizenry want or expect their community to be like in the future, in terms of housing, neighborhoods, parks, employment opportunities and so on. (Goal Setting.)
• How do we get there? The overall strategy or plan which is intended to create the condition we want.
• Getting there or plan implementation is the next step.
• Is the plan working? Is it effectively bringing about what we said we wanted? (Plan Monitoring.)

Planning Process - Fig. 1

The City’s Plan Commission will act as the advisory committee for the preparation of the Comprehensive Plan. They will gather public input, review each element of the plan, and make the final recommendation to the City Council.

The City was dedicated to involving the public in the development of the Comprehensive Plan and developed a “Public Participation Plan” that outlined the steps that will be taken to do just that. To review the complete document please click here.

What is a Comprehensive Plan?

A comprehensive plan is an officially adopted public document that establishes policies aimed at guiding the growth and development of the community for the next 25 years. The plan contains many coordinated and consistent elements including issues and opportunities, agricultural, natural & cultural resources, transportation, utilities & community facilities, housing, economic development, land use, and implementation.

The purpose of the plan is to guide decisions concerning the physical development of the community. It is a statement of how the city should develop over the next 25 years and what can be done to increase the likelihood of that happening. The plan will be used to guide the location, development and maintenance of the many facilities and services provided by the city, and will be used by decision makers when reviewing development cases.

In preparing a comprehensive plan a diverse set of tools are used. Planners examine population, land use and development trends, and gather input from citizens, community leaders, and citizen groups. This is used to create a diverse set of recommendations to address the problems that can arise from the interplay of people and place.

Why is a Comprehensive Plan Needed?

City government has a great deal of influence on the way in which a community develops. The buildings, facilities, and improvements, notably street and utility extensions, provided by local government affect the daily lives of most citizens, give form to the community, and stimulate or slow the development of privately owned land.

The city needs some technical guidance in making physical development decisions. A long-range comprehensive plan outlines general policies that will allow for the physical development of the community in a coordinated, unified manner. These policies create a rational set of guidelines by which new and complex issues can be evaluated, and creates opportunities for future growth.