Idea #40 – Evaluate Town Services and New Master Plan

Report Status: Fully Reviewed

Researched by: Joe Bernard

Original Idea as Submitted

Create a “master plan” for the town: This plan would be a continually evolving long-term plan, and the schools would be only one part of that plan.

Determine important services required by residents (those required by statute and all others); have public meetings with residents.

Evaluate town services residents would like and which ones are the most important.

Idea intent

The Town’s comprehensive master plan should be updated, should be informed by resident input, and should be used to evaluate the Town’s priorities and take further action.

Weighted Final Score: 40 (Financial Impact: 1, Operational Impact: 4, Time Scale: 2, Ease of Implementation: 4)

Background Information

On April 23, 2001, Belmont Town Meeting unanimously adopted A Working Vision for Belmont’s Future, a one-page statement containing three principles and nine goals organized within the framework of ensuring: Quality of Life, Character of Our Town, and Sense of Community. Subsequently, the Select Board established the Vision 21 Implementation Committee to facilitate, enable, and help the Town achieve the Working Vision for the Town. It is a permanent committee comprised of nine voting members, each with three-year terms, appointed by the Select Board.

As charged by the Select Board, one of the responsibilities of the Vision 21 Implementation Committee is to periodically identify Townspeople’s priorities, using a survey and/or other methods. In 2014-2015, they conducted a town-wide survey and reported their findings to the Select Board in a 200-page report titled A Working Vision for Belmont’s Future: Priorities and Progress, which is publicly available on the Vision 21 Implementation Committee’s page of the Town’s website.

Separately, Massachusetts state law requires that the Planning Board maintain a master plan that includes the following nine elements: goals and policies statement, land use plan, housing opportunities, economic development, natural and cultural resources, open space and recreation, services and facilities, circulation and transportation, and specific implementation actions.

In 2010, the Planning Board and Office of Community Development presented the 300-page Town of Belmont Comprehensive Plan 2010-2020 which incorporated all nine elements required by state law. This report was developed over a two-year effort by the Planning Board, Comprehensive Planning Committee, residents, business owners, community leaders, and a team of consultants. It is publicly available on the Planning Board’s page of the Town’s website.

In 2019, recognizing that the Comprehensive Plan was going to expire in 2020, the Vision 21 Implementation Committee undertook efforts to begin the process of preparing an updated master plan. Their goal was to create a single anchor document that residents can reference to understand the Town’s priorities and utilize as a basis for decision-making on a wide range of issues.

The Town submitted a grant application to Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) in 2019. The plan was for the Select Board to form a Master Plan Refresh Steering Committee led by MAPC and the Planning Board. However, the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted this process, grant funding was not received from MAPC, and work on this effort did not continue as intended. More recently, on January 31, 2022, the Town reapplied to MAPC to support this effort.

Recommendations

  • As a shorter-term deliverable, to address the idea’s intention for the Town to evaluate town services via resident input, the Vision 21 Implementation Committee should conduct a town-wide survey similar in substance to the survey conducted in 2014.

  • As a longer-term deliverable, to address the need for an updated comprehensive master plan, the Select Board should resurrect the Master Plan Refresh Steering Committee, with support from the Vision 21 Implementation Committee if necessary. The goal is to create a single anchor document that residents can reference to understand the Town’s priorities and utilize as a basis for decision-making.

Next Steps

  • Select Board to discuss these recommendations with the Vision 21 Implementation Committee, who would own the shorter-term deliverable to evaluate town services, and who have a deep understanding of the longer-term deliverable, as shown in the Belmont Master Plan Refresh Project Overview document (linked below)

  • Select Board to check in with the 2020 Master Plan Refresh Steering Committee and ensure that they are set up for progress

Further Reading