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What is a Master Plan for Growth?
The Master Plan for
Growth will create a policy framework to use to guide
development and land use activities. Land uses include housing and
neighborhoods, roads, commercial uses, recreation, open space, natural
resources, and public facilities.
The Plan is as much a process to engage the public in local
decisions as it is to create a document for guiding development. The
planning process is fundamentally a way for people with different
perspectives to articulate the sort of community they would like to live in
and leave behind. Planning can also help create a stable, predictable, fair
set of policies and ground rules within which development, entrepreneurship
and the marketplace can flourish. Above all, it is about making places
better.
Who is conducting the planning process?
Three parties are teaming up to bring the Cassville Master Plan for Growth to
completion. The Master Plan Advisory Committee, which is
described in a following section; City of Cassville staff; and a team of
consultants with BWR.
Who is on the Master Plan Steering Committee, and how were they
chosen?
The
Master Plan Advisory Committee is the primary decision-making body
for the planning process, up to the point at
which the final draft plan is submitted to the Planning Commission and
City Council for adoption. The Advisory
Committee members were appointed to provide a broad representation of all the community’s
interests. The members and the groups with which they’re affiliated are:
Will I be able to add input to the process?
Absolutely! The public has three ways to influence the shape and content of
the comprehensive plan.
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The planning
process includes a number of public meetings designed to check in with
the public at critical points in the decision-making process. You can
attend one or more of the community meetings throughout the coming year.
The first public meeting is scheduled for March 31, 2009 and various
other public meetings and open houses are planned for the spring, summer, and fall of
2009.
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The representative
advisory committee consists of members of our community. Feel free to
contact one of these committee members if you have input you’d like
considered. You are also encouraged to contact the City’ of
Cassville staff.
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You may also leave
comments though this web site or forward your comments
through
email and US mail.
How can I review the status of this process?
There are several ways. The Master Plan Steering Committee meetings
are open to the public, so you can attend and watch the members in action.
Periodically summaries of the meeting and other reports will be posted to
the
Plan’s special Web site. You are also free to
contact the Steering Committee members or the City of Cassville staff.
What is the timeline? When will the plan be done?
The process is currently underway, with participants reviewing and assessing
existing data, and conducting various public meetings. The Cassville Master
Plan for Growth will be completed in late 2009. Before any approvals, the
Planning Commission and the City Council will hold public hearings.
After the plan is approved, how does the plan affect ordinary citizens and
businesses?
The Cassville
Master Plan for Growth will direct policies, investments,
programs, and ordinances to regulate, encourage, and guide public and
private day-to-day decisions. Therefore, the City’s day-to-day decisions
relating to land use, transportation, open space, natural resources,
utilities, capital improvements and so on are based on the Plan.
How long will this plan be in use?
Plans of this nature look out 20 years in the future. Communities generally
need to update comprehensive plans more frequently than every 20 years, as
goals are achieved or new circumstances come to light (for example, who
among us had ever heard of a website 20 years ago?). But the Plan sets
long-term goals, and guides today’s decisions based on how they bring the
City closer to the desired future plan for land use patterns, economic
development, and natural resource viability.
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