Aspirations: Some Principles for a Reinvented General Plan

Nov. 30, 2010, 10:59 a.m.

Now that we've laid out some of the potentials and drawbacks of current General Plans (although it's not too late to contribute your thoughts on those posts!), we'd like to move toward the aspirational part of this process. What should a “reinvented” General Plan look like?

CPR members have been discussing this question informally and formally for some time, and below are a few ideas. Ultimately, we'd like to have a list of 8-10 Principles for a Reinvented General Plan.. These Principles will be our guide to how the General Plan can retain and expand its core strengths to guide California communities into the 21st century. What do you think? Please let us know your reactions to these Principles and suggest more in the comment box below.

VISION: The General Plan creates a shared vision for a community's future, and is focused on strategies and implementation tools to pursue that vision.

PLACEMAKING: The General Plan addresses the key questions: How does the community want to grow and change? What is this community going to look like in the future? How will that future be made sustainable?

UNIQUENESS: The General Plan expresses goals, policies, and implementation programs that are reflective of the unique issues and visions of the local community and helps create distinctive communities.

ACTION: The General Plan focuses on action and establishes clear implementation, evaluation and accountability tools, which ensure that the plan achieves results.