How would you plan the perfect community? Many would respond with one word: "balance." A balance of clean, unspoiled open spaces and water bodies that protect biodiversity, clean water and places to play and relax. A balance of strong businesses, a robust local economy and housing opportunities for people of different incomes. And a balance of the necessary transportation options to support a multitude of lifestyles.

Through Executive Order 418 (E.O. 418), the Commonwealth is providing Community Development Planning to help communities proactively plan for the future. Each community in the Commonwealth was given the opportunity to participate in this program and the deadline for communities to sign onto the program passed in December of 2002. E.O. 418 provides a natural follow-up to EOEEA's buildout analysis effort by providing up to $30,000 in planning services to each of the participating cities and towns to draft a Community Development Plan (CD Plan).

A total of 223 communities participated and devised individual Scope of Services documents outlining the tasks and planning services they would contract for in order to create their CD Plans. The exciting part of this program is underway now as these communities complete their final plans and submit them to the State. The Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) is providing public access to completed CD Plans and Scope of Services documents via a web site. Currently CD Plans are being reviewed and approximately 60 are posted on the DHCD web site.

Community Development Plans are intended to be image-based maps for cities and towns to identify their future growth. These plans include four core elements:

• Location, type, and quantity of new housing units, including housing affordable to individuals and families across a broad range of income;
• Location, type, and quantity of open space to be protected including identification and prioritization of environmentally critical unprotected open space, land critical to sustaining surface and groundwater quality and quantity, and environmental resources;
  
• Location, type, and quantity of commercial and industrial economic development, and;
• Location and description of any improvements to transportation, e.g., bridge work, road widening, revised intersections, commuter rail stop, traffic calming.

Affordable housing: Central Annex School housing, Pittsfield

The Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA), the Executive Office of Transportation and Public Works (EOTPW) and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) are providing a total of $10 million in planning services to create these plans. Each participating community will be given an opportunity to spend up to $30,000 on services from an approved list of expert service providers to help complete the different elements of the plan. Consultant services range from general planning facilitation services to hydrological experts to transportation consultants to Geographical Information System specialists.

Communities are asked to balance all four core elements of housing, transportation, environment and economic development in their plans. These four core elements are critical to improving quality of life and preserving community character. Community Preservation encourages communities to make decisions and take actions that preserve the city or town's special character in each of these four core elements.

Construction on a new house, Dover

One of the four core elements requires that communities identify land critical to sustaining a community's water supply, water quality and natural resources. This work helps municipal decision-makers understand the ecological carrying capacity of the community and the availability of water resources to support alternative buildout scenarios. Such an analysis assists communities in comparing allowable densities and land uses with the natural features and limitations of the land to the greatest extent possible.

The identification of housing options is also important for communities, as they need to provide a variety of housing opportunities for people from a broad range of income levels. Community Preservation encourages communities to examine their community for adaptive reuse opportunities. The reuse of historic buildings such as schools and factories are a creative way to provide additional housing while preserving community character and preventing pressure on additional natural resources.

Community Development Plan Guidebook

Helping communities identify their transportation needs and balancing them among the four core elements is also important to preserving community character. To avoid traffic congestion in a municipal downtown, results of traffic studies are carefully balanced with the desire to preserve the special character of a downtown.

Commercial and industrial infrastructure is also important for communities to consider as it provides an important tax base for communities. Siting commercial and industrial zoning away from aquifers or other areas critical to sustaining a community's water supply is important and can be achieved by balancing of interests within the Community Development Plans.

EOEEA, DHCD, EOTPW and DED have developed a Community Development Plan Guidebook to be used by communities to complete these Community Development Plans. The Guidebook will provides individual community information in the form of a Community Data Profile, general information on the planning process and appendices of state and regional resources.

The Department of Housing and Community Development is taking the lead on much of the administration of this program. Please be sure to check their web site to view completed CD Plans and other related documents.