A Master Plan and Beyond ...
A comprehensive plan or master plan is a guide for decision making that is focused on advancing the community’s vision of itself in 20 or so years. This vision is developed by staff or consulting planners through considerable public participation. The planners guide/advise the public discussion consistent with sound planning theory and practice, and to make sure that the public understands the implications of this or that as it formulates its vision.
Engaging the public in this way fosters public buy-in to and ownership of the resulting comprehensive master plan. Many a plan – developed with little input from the public and/or only because it was mandated by statute - has sat on the shelf, unused and collecting dust (much like Homewood's last planning effort). In such cases (or in the absence of a plan), a decision making body is only able to respond to proposals, often having to negotiate with and approve bad projects that could have been rejected outright, were there a plan to follow or a plan being followed. A community having a good plan and committed to the plan, and planning as a dynamic and on-going process, is able to be proactive rather then reactive. Through use of a comprehensive plan, a community has expressed what it wants and how it wants it done and can mandate what it wants where and can reject proposals that fail to comply with or advance the vision of the plan.
But, for the plan to be effective, it cannot be ignored or used only when it suits the flavor of the day or the current whims of the community’s decision makers. The legislative body (city council) must adopt and use the plan consistently and fairly, and the citizenry, empowered by its ownership of the plan due to its active participation in its development, must continue to be engaged in the planning process and demand of its elected officials that they implement the plan. The plan is not, nor should it be considered, a static document, set in stone. Planning is an on-going process, and the plan should be a dynamic reflection of that process.
You'll here from some decision makers (I've already heard this from a prominent member of the Homewood Council): the Statutes do not require that municipal decisions follow a plan, or that zoning, the primary implementation tool of planning, be consistent with the plan. In Alabama that is true; in many other states it is not. The statutes also do not prevent a city from following the plan. Such an argument is just a cop-out, providing cover for politicians to pursue some personal agenda (or facilitating the agenda of well healed political supporters), or whatever. A Comprehensive Plan takes on the force of law through its determined and equitable use. Comprehensive Plans applied evenly and fairly in support of decisions, will provide legal protection against court challenge. Courts determining that a plan’s application has been "arbitrary and capricious" will likely not support that decision.
As a guide to decision making, the plan is not just a map. The Comprehensive Plan is a policy document, which includes goals, objectives and policies (GOPs) for guiding decision making, developing programs or regulations, or otherwise advancing the community towards achieving its vision, as articulated in the plan. No decision should be made nor action be taken without first consulting the plan to ensure that such decision or action is consistent with advancing the vision and goals of the plan. And, it is our responsibility as citizens to see that our elected officials do everything they can to implement our plan.