THE CASE FOR Planning Ahead

1. THE CASE FOR Planning Ahead Presented by: Jennifer Goldson, AICP JM Goldson community preservation + planning Sept 20, 2013 C.40B Training Lowell, MA

2. Why Plan Ahead? • Be pro-active about housing instead of just reactionary • Plan ahead to gain control of community development • State recognizes these efforts and gives credit = more local control over development • Prior municipal action • Certification

3. Prior Municipal Action • What a community does prior to an application must be considered by the subsidizing agency in determining a project’s eligibility. • Comp Permit Regulations (760 CMR 56.04(4)(b)) defines “prior municipal action” • For example: • Inclusionary zoning • Multi-family zoning districts • C.40R Smart Growth Zoning Overlay Districts • Also: local funds for development project, disposition of municipal land, creating a housing trust, fund local homebuyer program

4. Certification • Certification allows denials of 40B applications to be upheld (for 1-2 years) • First, must have an approved Housing Production Plan (HPP) that includes: • Housing Needs Study • Goals • Strategies • Regulatory • ID specific development sites • Characteristics of preferred development • Second, approve # of new affordable housing units • Approved HPP readies community to obtain “certification”

5. community engagement TO DETERMINE LOCAL HOUSING STRATEGIES Public Process

6. Objectives for public involvement

7. Key Engagement Methods Which methods have you had experience with in a planning process? How successful were they at engagement? Traditional public hearing Presenting at regular board/committee meeting Other? • Facilitated public workshop • Online survey (or paper survey) • Focus groups • One-on-one Interviews

8. Best practices for public engagement Traditional Public Meeting Community Workshop

9. Visibility: • local coverage, announcements, direct invitations to stakeholders • Convenient time & location • Extra amenities – go above expectations: • Child care, food, raffle • Appearance of exclusivity & RSVP advanced commitment • Clearly explain meaningful & direct impact • The power of certification • Help determine policy for future development JM Goldson’s TIPS to Get People out What if you had to get a babysitter, leave work early, skip dinner, or, worse, skip NCIS to attend a public meeting? Would you still come out?

10. Tips for running the workshop

11. Tip 1: Present the data, but make it interesting • Educate through questions in an interactive style • Don’t bog them down in the details • Of course, we all know about using jargon About 30% of people in this room may be considered low-income; This reflects the proportion of low income households in your town.

12. Tip 2: Let people air feelings upfront Pretty reasonable point of view, I’d say…

13. Approach for Setting Goals & Priorities with Citizens

14. TIP 3: Yes, but give them something to work with • Don’t begin with a blank sheet, give citizens some ideas first to react to • Build on past plans, policies, & actions • Confirm, challenge, or build • Use small discussion groups with mix of multiple choice and open-ended questions to discuss • Foster discussion by leaning toward an informal feeling – put citizens at ease

15. Tip 4: Don’t skip the Reality check • Evaluate priorities identified through community process to: • Determine feasibility of strategies & sites • Helpful to have a development consultant on team • Ensure priorities address housing needs – circle back to the data analysis and tie priorities directly to needs • Should have a municipal entity responsible for the plan to do this reality check (housing partnership, planning board, ad hoc task force)

16. Questions? Comments? Thoughts?

17. Contact Jennifer M. Goldson, AICP, owner JM Goldson community preservation + planning office. 617-990-4971 cell. 617-872-0958 email. jennifer@jmgoldson.com facebook. www.facebook.com/JMGoldson blog. www.jmgoldson.com