Planning Connecticut: 2010-04-18

4/21/10

Explaining the "History" Element in a POCD

by Evan J. Reich

The Plan of Conservation and Development often has a section dedicated to the history of the city. This section highlights how the city was formed and how it got to be where it is today. The purpose of the history section is to give the rest of the plan context. It helps readers understand why the city is the way it is today and how it got to be there.

Most plans include preserving history as a goal so it is necessary to highlight which positive aspects of a city’s history are worth saving. In Connecticut, POCDs usually use the history section to describe the early settlement as well as the growth of the city over the decades and how this came to be. This is important to several types of readers. People who move to a city use the section to learn the identity of the place they are moving to as will a prospective developer to gauge the character of its people and likelihood of a successful development. Town planners and commissioners also benefit as they often are charged with the duty of preserving the history of the city. It only makes sense that they fully understand what is important historically and what is not.

4/20/10

Master Plan or Comprehensive Plan?

A useful definition from Answers.com summarizes the meaning of "master plan" as . . . "A document that describes, in narrative and with maps, an overall development concept. The master plan is used to coordinate the preparation of more detailed plans or may be a collection of detailed plans. The plan may be prepared by a local government to guide private and public development or by a Developer on a specific project."

Central Connecticut State University's designs for an extension of their campus in the Town of Newington amount to a "Master Plan," currently overseen by Dr. Richard Bachoo, chief administrative officer of the University.

On the other hand, some government bodies use the term "Master Plan" synonymously with "Comprehensive Plan"--called Plans of Conservation and Development in Connecticut. These are more of a blueprint for town or city growth which also play a role in justifying zoning ordinances and illustrate trends in the evolution of a place.

Glossary

Concurrency Management
This is a growth management policy with a goal of requiring adequate infrastructure such as roads, water and sewer lines, to currently exist or to be planned for an area to be developed. Concurrency management keeps the capacities of local services from being strained and promotes more compact growth of the town closer to the urban core.

Conservation
Conservation is the preservation, restoration, management, protection and ongoing care of a particular resource. For example, the state of Connecticut requires each town to have a Plan of Conservation and Development; the conservation part of the plan protects and manages the town's resources.

Corridor
A corridor is the land connecting two towns or cities. For example, think about driving along rt. 175 from Newington to New Britain. What is the first thing you see when crossing over the New Britain town line? This is one of New Britain's corridors.
A corridor can also refer to a heavily populated area along a well traveled route used by railroads or airlines.

Euclidean Zoning
The most pervasive zoning technique in the United States, Euclidean Zoning divides a town into uniform land use districts--usually based on residential, commercial, and industrial uses. Many American communities are thus divided into spaces that are solely residential or commercial or industrial. Euclidean Zoning is named for the town of Euclid, Ohio, which became the focus of a 1926 Supreme Court decision supporting the right of a town to enforce such zones .

Growth management
This refers to specific regulatory policies aimed at influencing how growth occurs, mainly within a locality. These affect density, availability of land, mixtures of uses, and timing of development. Growth management seeks to accommodate growth rationally, not to prevent or limit it. That is growth control. (definition from Brookings Institution)

Infrastructure refers to the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area, such as; transportation systems, power plants, schools, sewers, power lines, highways, etc.
Source: www.dictionary.com
www.answers.com

Overlay Zone
Overlay zoning creates a special zoning district which overlaps an existing zone or zones. For example an overlay zone will alert the developer, property owner, and public officials to the presence of critical habitat and migration patterns of animals regardless of an underlying character district.

Perceived Open Space
A category of land use. Land that has nothing built on it and appears to be open space yet is not designated as such and can be developed. Community members can overestimate how much open space they actually have available due to this misperception. For example, there is privately owned land on Cedar Mountain that is not developed, which can add to the perception that more of the land is designated as open space than is actually the case.

Personal property, roughly speaking, is private property that is moveable, as opposed to real property or real estate.

Real property and personal property are the main classifications of property in the common law. Real property refers to land and the improvements made by human efforts—buildings, machinery, the acquisition of various property rights, and the like. Real property is also termed realty, real estate, and immovable property.

Smart growth refers to an overall set of broad goals designed to counteract sprawl. These usually include (1) limiting outward expansion, (2) encouraging higher density development, (3) encouraging mixed-use zoning, (4) reducing travel by private vehicles, (5) revitalizing older areas, and (6) preserving open space. Promoting more affordable housing can be a goal, but usually is not (definition from Brookings Institution).

The Grand List is a listing of all real estate parcels and business personal property within a particular municipality—or, as defined by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management, “The aggregate valuation of taxable property within a given town.”

Watershed
A watershed is an area of land where all the water on it or below it drains by gravity into the same place; like a large river. Watersheds come in all shapes and sizes and can cross town or state boundries. For example, in Connecticut the Mattabesset River watershed encompases nine towns and empties into the Connecticut River.

Zoning
Zoning is the process of making a set of laws that control the land use within a certain land area. Some examples of zoning can be; residential, commercial, industrial, and farming. Each of these areas would then have their own set of rules to following when developing or preserving land.

Planning Connecticut

4/21/10

Explaining the "History" Element in a POCD

4/20/10

Master Plan or Comprehensive Plan?

Posts

Plans of Conservation and Development (POCD)

Glossary