When your city decides to create a planning commission, enabling legislation in Alabama states that your commission must prepare a master or comprehensive plan. Therefore, preparing and adopting a master plan is a mandatory requirement, not an option. When the comprehensive plan is adopted, it must serve as the foundation for the city’s planning program and, as such, must be continually reviewed and periodically updated. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss ways your city can fulfill these responsibilities.
TOPICS INCLUDE: (1) The basic surveys and studies which form the foundation of the plan; (2) Successful approaches to involving the community in formulating goals and evaluating alternatives; (3) The statutory requirements to adopting and updating the plan; (4) The implementation of the plan through regulatory and functional planning; (5) The political and institutional implications of the plan as a public statement of the city’s development policies.
This workshop provides a practical orientation and guide to those citizens who serve as appointed members of local planning commissions or as elected members of city councils. Local officials, staff, engineers, consultants, and others also benefit from a better understanding of the key role comprehensive planning plays in the development of their community.