With the recent kick-off of the Raynham Master Plan in summer 2020, our Comprehensive Planning team has launched its eight such initiative. The town of Raynham now joins Berkley, Carver, Dartmouth, Lakeville, Marion, Norton, and Wareham as communities who chose to work with SRPEDD on their own vitally important long-range plans. Later this year, even during the ongoing economic and public health crisis, Mattapoisett and North Attleborough will be kicking-off their own Master Planning efforts with SRPEDD, using innovative online techniques to move the projects forward in meaningful, exiting ways.

Why so much enthusiasm and interest in master planning? Communities clearly recognize the value of a unifying, long-range plan. And, well, matching grant funds from DLTA and the Community Compact Cabinet certainly don't hurt the projects. But more than all that, we think that SRPEDD's team-based, collaborative approach is also a key ingredient to the successful Master Plan formula.

Communities can think of SRPEDD staff as members of their own customized master planning team, each experienced and committed to making the entire process as easy and effective as possible. To this end, we gather and analyze information that is presented at a series of initial public workshops with local residents, business owners, and officials. It’s at this point that the effort really takes off. Sure, the data is informative and presentations from SRPEDD staff can help set the table discussion. But it’s the participants from each community that are the true experts. In other words, we attend these events to learn from you - not the other way around. Your ideas, hopes, and aims for the future are what ultimately shape the Master Plan and its "Vision."

The recent "Open House to Explore Land Use, Housing, and Economic Development” in Norton is just one example of this type of information-gathering and momentum-building event – where Master Planning goes public, and where local champions emerge. We’re equally optimistic that online, virtual workshops and events will generate meaningful, substantive content.

After consensus is reached on a Master Plan's Vision, SRPEDD ensures that the document will be user-friendly, beautifully designed, and ready to implement by the community. For example, most of our recent Master Plans, such as the Lakeville Master Plan 2030, include a handy "Implementation Guide" that almost reads like a recipe. These Guides clearly outline every strategy needed to put the plan into action. They list responsible parties, necessary steps and resources, performance measures, and model success stories. In a way, they are your Master Plan "cheat sheet."

As we look to 2020 and beyond, we hope to continue Master Planning with and learning from all 27 communities in the SRPEDD region.