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What is a Master Plan?
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What's a Master Plan?
It's your vision of Belmont - what you want to preserve and what you want to achieve. It's a list of goals - Belmont's To-Do List - to meet that vision.
How Does it Help Belmont?
The Master Plan has many uses. The goals list in the plan is a pro-active way in which the Community can direct its own future. It guides on-going Community decisions in many areas - assuring they reflect the vision of the plan. It guides the Planning Board in developing ordinances and the Community in financial planning. It places Belmont in control of its future.
Why Does it Have to be Updated?
A great many changes have occurred in our Town, our Region, and the World sincethe last Master Plan was written in 1992. It's important that we recognize and plan for change. Traditionally many communities look at their Master Plans every 5 or 10 years. Belmont's Master Plan was written in 1992. The Plan is only valuable for as long as each of us can see into the future. Once many of the goals in the plan have been achieved or significant change occurs within the community - it's time to make sure the plan is updated.
How will it be Updated?
- In 2000, the Planning Board determined the need to update the Master Plan.
- In 2001, the Planning Board solicited volunteers to serve on master plan subcommittees to begin the review of eight major plan sections:
- Community Facilities
- Conservation & Preservation
- Construction Materials
- Housing
- Land Use
- Recreation
- Transportation
- Utilities & Public Service
- Inform the Community about the master plan process
- Gather information and ideas from the community
- Research, evaluate and project available data
- Produce a draft master plan for review by the community
- Produce and adopt a final master plan
Who Writes the Master Plan?
You do! Everyone in the community who participates is an author of the plan.
So get involved. Share your thoughts on what's important to Belmont - now and in the future.
More Info
A community's Master Plan is a reference or policy document. It contains appropriate maps, charts and supporting text which presents the recommendations of the planning board, and offers guidelines for community decision makers. the plan will probably be the most complete source of information about current conditions and trends within the community. By presenting
coordinated policies within the master plan, addressing such topics as future development, transportation, environmental protection, community facilities, and fiscal management, the plan should help a community meet change responsibly, guiding its growth in an orderly, constructive manner. As provided by RSA 674:3 "...the master plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing coordinated and harmonious development which will, in
accordance with existing and probable future needs, promote health, safety, order, convenience, prosperity, or the general welfare as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development."
Belmont's first Master Plan was drafted in 1970. A subsequent plan was written in 1982 and the current plan is dated 1992. A community should continually review the contents and direction of its Master Plan in light of the amount of change and growth it experiences so that the goals and objectives appropriately address the changing needs of the community. Updates can be made to the Plan as a whole or by section as necessary.
Belmont has experienced a great deal of change within the last decade, as has the entire Lakes Region. The process for updating Belmont's 1992 Master Plan is now beginning, and the Planning Board encourages residents to join in planning the direction of future growth and development in our Community. Over the next two years, the Master Plan process will:
- Review Belmont's progress over the last decade
- Evaluate our current status as well as our relationship to the overall region
- Identify issues of community concern
- Reconfirm Belmont's commitment to preserve quality of life in the community
- Develop goals, objectives and strategies to promote the vision of the community in future years and to stabilize the impact of taxes by proactively planning for the future
The Master Plan will contain a list of goals, objectives and strategies that will guide community decisions during the upcoming decade. Decisions regarding community development, expenditures and
regulations will be based on the Vision that is developed during the Master Plan process.
The Master Plan project will be broken down into 8 general areas:
- Land Use - To determine the capability of land for intensive or non-intensive development such as residential, commercial and industrial.nbsp; Mapping of existing uses of land and showing preferred future uses and densities. Developing a plan that responds to the natural environment, provides a diversity of land uses and a direction for growth, and meets the goals and objectives of the community. Includes recommendations for the development of facilities necessary to support
anticipated growth patterns.
- Housing - To ensure that future shelter needs of residents will be met. The plan
will include a diversity of housing such as single family, multi-family; an analysis of the question of affordability and will meet the needs of the handicapped and elderly.
- Transportation - To plan for road upgrades, changes in intersection design, parking requirements, pedestrian needs and other modes of transportation.
- Utility and Public Services - To make recommendations for the present and future needs for public and private utilities within the community.
- Community Facilities - To provide for facilities such as schools, fire or police stations, libraries and municipal offices.
- Recreation - To evaluate and provide for the passive and active recreational needs of the community.
- Conservation and Preservation - To provide for the preservation, conservation, and use of man-made and natural resources including historic, archeological and cultural resources as well as wetlands, wildlife, water and agricultural resources.
- Construction Materials - To identify known sources of earth construction materials available for future construction needs, including all existing excavation operations.
The Master Plan process will include public meetings and surveys to gather information and
recommendations from all residents. Subcommittees to organize and guide that process are now being formed.
The Planning Board urges everyone to become involved in determining the Vision for Belmont's future. If you are able to participate on one or more of the subcommittees being formed for the 8 areas listed above please attend a subcommittee meeting or contact the Land Use Office at the Town Hall at 267-8300 ext. 19 or P.O. Box 310, Belmont, NH 03220.
PARTICIPATE IN GUIDING
BELMONT'S FUTURE |
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