AGENDA #2
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Review of Status of Comprehensive Plan Implementation
DATE: January 15, 2004
The attached materials provide the Council with information to assist in its review of the status of implementing actions listed in the Town’s 2000 Comprehensive Plan:
· Attachment 1: Quarterly Update of Council Goals, through January 15, 2004
· Attachment 2: Comprehensive Plan Implementation Summary and Worksheet
· Attachment 3: Downtown Small Area Plan Implementation Summary
· Attachment 4: Action Plan from the 2000 Comprehensive Plan (as revised by the Council on May 12, 2003)
BACKGROUND
In last year’s retreat, the Council used a review of the implementation measures in the Town’s Comprehensive Plan “Action Plan” as a basis for establishing Council goals for the year. After the retreat, the Council adopted its annual goals for the year on February 24, 2003, and referred longer-term proposed changes to the Action Plan to advisory boards for comment. On May 12, 2003 the Council adopted a revised Comprehensive Plan Action Plan. We propose to use this process again this year.
The Town Council adopted a new Comprehensive Plan on May 8, 2000. A key emphasis of that plan was the desire of the community to improve implementation of the Plan after adoption. In a departure from previous Comprehensive Plans for Chapel Hill, each section outlined a set of specific actions to be taken along with a timeline for accomplishing priority tasks. An implementation chapter summarized what needed to be done and laid out a timeline for action.
The implementation program acknowledged the Town lacks the resources to implement all of the strategies simultaneously. Therefore, the Plan described an Action Plan that identified short-term (0-2 years), mid-term (2-5 years), and long-term (5-10 years) priorities for implementation. The Action Plan is a guide to decision-making that sets priorities and identifies the general phasing of the Comprehensive Plan recommendations.
DISCUSSION
To assist in your discussion of Council goals, we have prepared the following materials:
Attachment 1 contains the most recent Quarterly Update of Council Goals, current through January 15, 2004.
Attachment 2, Implementation Summary and Worksheet, lists each action item from the Short, Mid-, and Long Term Actions of the revised Action Plan approved by Council in May, 2003. The action items covered in the Quarterly Update of Council Goals (Attachment 1) are noted in bold.
The time periods are defined as:
· Short-Term (0-2 years): 2003 and 2004
· Mid-Term (2-5 years): 2005, 2006, and 2007
· Long-Term (5-10 years): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
We also provide our summary assessment of the progress on each item using the following categories:
· Not started
· Progress
· Substantially Complete
· Complete
This Attachment also provides a worksheet column on the right side of the page to assist the Council in making an assessment of how the Action Plan might be changed to reflect past progress and the Council’s present priorities. Space is also provided after each section of the worksheet for Council members to make notes.
This summary and worksheet will also be posted in the meeting room in a large-scale format.
Attachment 3 includes supplementary information on implementation of the Downtown Small Area Plan, designed to assist in your review of the action steps in the 2000 Comprehensive Plan related to the Downtown Small Area Plan.
Attachment 4 contains the 2000 Comprehensive Plan Action Plan, as revised by the Council on May 12, 2003.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Comprehensive Plan calls for a monitoring program to track progress made in implementing the Action Plan and to provide a mechanism to make needed “mid-course” adjustments. To date, the Council has:
· received annual reviews of progress in October 2001, 2002, and 2003 on the Action Plan;
· published the Data Book annually, with a section analyzing the indicators of the Comprehensive Plan;
· published a Growth Management report in June 2002; and
· evaluated the Action Plan and made revisions in January-May, 2003.
This report is part of the continuing comprehensive review of the status of implementation, and provides an assessment of what remains to be done to accomplish the action items.
The Comprehensive Plan also calls for periodic plan evaluation, through the Growth Management Report, and periodic adjustments to the Action Plan. In last year’s retreat, the Council began a process of setting Council goals using the Action Plan. Action Plan components are also programmed in to the Town budget, Capital Improvements Program, and the work plans of affected departments. In addition to evaluations, the Plan calls for the Town to undertake a major revision of the Comprehensive Plan five years following Plan adoption.
NEXT STEPS
The Mayor will act as facilitator for discussion as the Council desires. Adjustments to the Council’s goals will be put in resolution form and presented at a regular meeting for the Council’s consideration.
ATTACHMENTS