Beyond the Finish Line: Implementing Plans

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How to develop implementation matrices for your plans, including key features such as timelines, priorities, and responsible parties
• Important characteristics of the future land-use and character map and palette, given the context of your own community
• Innovative ideas and solutions that go above and beyond the implementation matrix and the future land-use and character map in order to make plans a reality

MORE SESSION DETAILS

Comprehensive Plans are nearly useless if they simply sit on a shelf gathering dust. Yet this is a common fate of community plans in cities around the country. In this session, speakers from the public and private sectors speak from experience and provide challenges and best practices related to plan implementation from several communities. The session reviews three key implementation tools and strategies. The first, the implementation matrix, is typically the foundation for successful implementation. Here, we present key features from a variety of matrices, including timelines, priorities, and responsible parties, discussing what worked, what didn’t, and why. The second, the future land-use and character map, must be designed for teeing up both minor ordinance amendments and complete revisions to the zoning and subdivisions ordinances. And the third, beyond the matrix, identifies strategies that go beyond the planning matrix, from revising the template of daily staff reports and presentations to hiring new staff to lead implementation. Leave with a clear sense of why planning for implementation is important and an understanding of the industry’s best practices.