EP 80: Comprehensive Planning in an Age of Change

When a city's or town's governing board adopts a comprehensive plan -- a big document meant to guide or manage growth and other elements of the locality's future -- it's a pretty big deal. Sure, municipalities across North Carolina have them, with insistence from state law. But for an individual city or town, it's a tremendous feat to complete such an intensive product in its purpose and sensitivity for the community, requiring all kinds of self-awareness work, public involvement, math, predictions, visioneering (the "blue sky" versus the real and practical) and, of course, time investment. On this episode of Municipal Equation, the podcast from the North Carolina League of Municipalities about cities and towns and how we shape them, we talk with a number of officials about how they view and pursue comprehensive planning guides, and how that might be changing with time. Philosophies, ideas for public engagement and inclusion, and plenty of other takeaways make this episode a solid one in the ongoing conversation of ever-improving and protecting the places we call home. // Municipal Equation is a publication of the N.C. League of Municipalities, https://www.nclm.org. Contact host/producer Ben Brown at [email protected].