Customizing Comp Plans for Small Towns

Just because a community is small doesn’t mean the issues they face are any less challenging or warrant less time and resources than bigger cities. However, with limited staff and funding, it can be difficult for small towns and rural communities to prioritize where to invest limited resources to address the needs of current residents while also positioning to attract new businesses and residents.

Comprehensive plans for these communities are often nonexistent or outdated. When updates are done, a common approach is to try to address everything all at once by copying the myriad elements that plans for larger cities have and scaling back the engagement, specificity of the analysis, and deliverable design. An alternative approach is to identify the most pressing issues and desired outcomes and build a customized process and plan that can help your community make meaningful progress right now with the resources available.

This session features examples from three award-winning comp plans for small towns facing a spectrum of development, infrastructure, and housing challenges and highlights elements of the process and deliverables that were customized to meet their needs.

Presenters: AJ Fawver, Kevin Shepherd, and Tom Yantis

Download Presentation (when available): LINK

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Small Towns, Big Challenges

Have you ever left a planning conference session scratching your head over how to implement an idea shared that required a staff of dozens or project expenditures that are seemingly larger than your community’s entire municipal budget? Have you ever had a hard time relating to solutions presented in sessions that relied on a group of highly expert team members performing highly specialized roles, because you can’t even remember which of your many hats you should actually be wearing at the moment?

Then this session is for you! It is tailored to address the unique challenges and resource limitations of small communities. Panelists with diverse personal and professional perspectives will share their real-world experiences in working with and for small communities and how they have helped them more effectively improve their planning and development processes. We will explore how rapidly changing public service expectations, small-town politics, generational shifts in lifestyles, technology advances, remote work, economic paradigm shifts, demands for affordable housing, and financial pressures are making it increasingly difficult for planners and zoning administrators to serve small town’s growing needs with limited resources. The panelists will share examples of how communities have successfully overcome challenges by implementing smart process and communication designs and cost-effective technology upgrades that have made real improvements in the usability of their community’s plans and zoning codes for the public, all while saving valuable municipal staff time.

Presenters: Wayne Childs and AJ Fawver

Download Presentation (when available): LINK

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Event Link: https://web.cvent.com/event/779f54d0-a9a1-4eaf-be0b-06636f2935e9/summary