The last time Belmont implemented a Comprehensive Plan, The Beatles were just beginning to find their their foothold in the United States.
“It’s well past time to get this done,” said Director of Planning and Building Chris Ryan.
Essentially, Ryan explained, a Comprehensive Plan is “a blueprint for the future.” It maps out all of the strategies a town can use to meet its objectives; it creates a vision for the future. It’s comprehensive in the sense that it addresses all facets of the community, from transportation, zoning and land use to open space and recreation.
“Based on that vision, we put together a series of goals and strategies to reach that vision,” he said. “It’s a way to be proactive in terms of achieving the future you want.”
Since the 1963 Comprehensive Plan, the town has only once attempted to update and implement a new plan, but after getting through the Planning Board in 2010, the plan went to Town Meeting, where members voted to table it. Administrators at the time felt it didn’t have support, “so they shelved it.”
“I think in a way, that’s why it’s all the more important for this plan to really reflect the will of the citizens and the aspirations for the town, because most communities have had a plan every 10 to 20 years or so,” Ryan said.
Ultimately, the plan only requires adoption by the Planning Board, according to Ryan. If a similar situation were to happen at a Town Meeting with this Comprehensive Plan, the plan would still be ready to implement because of the public involvement expected. The goal is to complete the process by August 2026, he said.
The process began in earnest last week with the first of at least three public meetings on the subject. In February, the town’s consultant, VHB, hosted a kickoff meeting to introduce the project, its scope, and the anticipated timeline.
“We put out an RFP [Request for Proposals] and got two hits,” Ryan said. “They were both very good firms, but VHB was able to meet our price and JM Goldson was significantly higher than our budget.”
According to Ryan, VHB has worked on a number of plans in the state and region.
“I thought they seemed to approach the project in a very methodical and logical way,” he said. “I thought their graphics were good; I thought the way they approached the public outreach was great and perfect for us. Obviously, we’d like to make the plan as accessible to as many Belmont residents as possible.”
Ryan said the new plan will essentially be “from scratch,” while still being informed by the 2010 plan and many other types of plans the town has done in the last 20 years or so, whether that’s plans for Trapelo Road, Waverley Square or Belmont Center.
“There’s a lot of information to mine to see if it’s still relevant,” he said. “There may have been some great recommendations made in those plans and if they’re still valid, I think they should be considered for the new plan.”
The new plan, he said, will serve the town for 25 years. And unlike the last one, he doesn’t expect it to sit on the shelf collecting dust. He sees several practical uses for it once it is completed.
“From a standpoint of transportation, we could identify intersections that need signalization or add bike lanes or sidewalks, or expand sidewalks, that kind of thing,” he said. “So each department can go to the plan and say when they’re asking for capital improvement funding, ‘It’s in the plan.’”
As for zoning, the Comprehensive Plan can be used to present a plan for updating and reforming the zoning bylaws. For community facilities and services, the plan might identify how to replace buildings in the future, or how to create or enhance services that the town has long wanted.
“It’s really an opportunity, even from that individual chapter standpoint, of being proactive in putting together the priorities for the future in terms of the funding we want to get, the projects we want to do, and how to prioritize them,” he said.
In addition to the three planned public meetings and workshops, there are also monthly committee meetings run by the 11-member Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee that the public is welcome to attend, and a survey that will likely run until mid-July.
“The most important thing people can do is get involved,” he said.
The survey can be accessed at tinyurl.com/BelmontCompPlan.