A municipal development plan could help your city manage long-term change and growth
For example, have you considered how your municipality could manage a change in housing demand in the years to come? Or, how your city will respond to future mass transit needs? These are problems that can be addressed appropriately in a municipal development plan.
Priorities differ from one municipality to the next, depending on things like natural resource dependency, rate of population increase, tourism, natural disaster prevalence, and more. And because municipal development plans take a long-term approach (considering developmental changes over at least the next 20 years), they are powerful decision-making tools that address both current needs and future implementations.
To get started, we’ve outlined five Canadian development plan examples, followed by a number of things to consider in order to be certain your development plan aligns with your strategy. Viewing these examples (and strategy alignment tips) will help you see different approaches to creating your municipal development plan.
While municipal development plans and municipal strategic plans aren’t synonyms, there is a great deal of overlap between the two. For example, while they are similar in terms of goals, a development plan looks at these goals “from a land use and development perspective” (according to the city of Canmore, Alberta). Additionally, a development plan is meant to “shape the city’s urban form and direct the development and implementation of more detailed plans” (according to the city of Edmonton, Alberta). A strategic plan, on the other hand, takes all areas of a city into consideration, including citizen services, operational efficiency, employee development, revenue and expense management, and public safety.
If your municipality has (or is planning to create) a municipal development plan, be sure to consider the following:
Before you move forward with your development plan, it’s important that your strategy—including your vision, objectives, and leadership—are all structured correctly. Once you have a better handle on your city’s strategy, your long-term development plan will be that much more impactful!
Tricia manages our implementation and onboarding team to ensure the success of ClearPoint customers.