The concept of Master Planning has been around since 1898 when Harvard officially established the first urban planning school. The first planners focused on physical space. Today we are trying to balance the focus on physical space with other essential elements such as aesthetics, efficient use of the space, and conservation of natural resources, particularly water.
I have developed Master Plans and I have reviewed Master Plans. I’ve always been amazed that every document is lengthy, full of data, and mostly sits on a shelf. I have considered whether these documents could be more accessible, usable, and concise. There is a more efficient and useful way to conduct your master plan update!
What are essential parts of the Master Plans? I have listed a few major elements that are like every Master Plan to ensure we have the same perspective:
- Covers a planning horizon ranging from 15 to 35 years.
- Confirms or determines system deficiencies related to providing demand or capacity.
- Provides verification of compliance with regulatory requirements; and
- Establishes project phasing for required infrastructure, correlating infrastructure with project land use to avoid costly oversizing or detrimental under sizing of facilities.
Of course, there may be other components that you should include in the master plan update. Agencies may require unique elements based on their goals and objectives.
How do we adhere to the rules in Master Planning? We establish a hydraulic model of the system, we create graphs and charts to show that demand and storage or capacity and overflow needs are met, we formulate more graphs and add tables to confirm growth, then we check all this data against the regulatory requirements and develop verbiage to burn onto paper to establish that we have compliance. Once complete, the document quickly becomes outdated, sits on your shelf, and collects dust until the next update.
I do not want to minimize the work that goes into the creation of a Master Plan. There is a lot of analysis! I would point out that most Master Plans updates are (if you have an established document) established using the rules already discussed. However, are we really getting the best bang for the buck on the updates?
Allow me to answer that question with a couple more: Are you recreating the same minimally useful document with just minor updates? Do you use the updated hydraulic model in house? What is the primary objective for completing your Master Plan Update?
Are you open to discussing a new way to get better use out of the Master Planning Document? Myriad Engineering is open to assisting with your next Master Plan. We would love to hear from you.