National Community Planning Month

The Town of Mount Pleasant is celebrating National Community Planning Month this October. The Town of Mount Pleasant prioritizes planning, working to improve our public space and parks, planning for preservation and sustainability, and helping formalize a vision for the future of our community. National Community Planning Month is a time to highlight the important role of planning in our community. Planning can be summed up as comprehensive, community-focused and enhancing choices. While many people may not realize it, planning has a significant impact on their day-to-day life. From where they live, to how they commute, to the type of home they live in, planning plays a vital role in a person’s life and well-being.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Please follow the Town of Mount Pleasant on social media to partake in our month-long celebration of planning! You can also learn more about the national celebration by visiting https://planning.org/ncpm/ or joining the conversation with #planningmonth. 

WHAT IS PLANNING?

The Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Department works with residents and elected officials to guide the layout of an entire community or region. Planners take a broad view and look at the relationship between a development proposal and the local needs and concerns to ensure it "fits" with the vision of the Town and the direction and recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan. See what the PLAN Department has to offer.

BE INVOLVED, BE ENGAGED

Residents can be involved in planning and framing our community in many ways.  

The Comprehensive Plan is the framework that formalizes the focus and vision of the future of our town and communities. The Comprehensive Plan spans a period of ten years and is updated every five years. Thousands of citizens took time to provide input or comments on the content of the Comprehensive Plan over the course of its development and was last approved by Town Council on Tuesday October 13, 2020. Work to update the plan will start later this year.

A series of “Public Input Matters” open houses were held from September, 2022 through April, 2023, to begin a dialogue to define the unique challenges and character of the different parts of Town. The information gleaned during this process will help inform the next update for our Comprehensive Plan, scheduled for 2024.

Various boards and commissions, comprised of volunteer residents of the Town, have been established by Town Council to provide recommendations on development of the Town. These boards and commissions look for guidance from Planners to further the vision outlined in the Comprehensive Plan. Residents interested in serving on one of these boards or commissions can submit an application for consideration.  

WHY CELEBRATE?

Planners help create communities of lasting value. Planning helps leverage public and private funds that lead to business growth, job creation, and economically resilient communities.

Planners are skilled at balancing the varied interests and viewpoints that emerge as a community plans its future. Planners consider what is best for the entire community – senior citizens, workers, children, people living with disabilities, business owners, and elected officials. How do they arrive at these community-wide decisions? Through conversations with residents and thoughtful outreach to community stakeholders.

Planners work for the greater good. Planners work with professionals from different fields such as public health, recreation and engineering to make communities safer, stronger, and healthier. Planning does not stop at a geographic border.  Communities are served best when planners take a broader viewpoint, encompassing regional and statewide perspectives.

Planners have the unique expertise to comprehensively address the impacts of today’s actions on tomorrow’s communities. Planners do not just focus on where to locate (or site) a building, but also consider how that decision impacts the safety of the community, the existing character of the community, how it impacts the environmental resiliency, and if the decision encourages social and economic diversity.

BACKGROUND

Established in 2006, National Community Planning Month is celebrated each October as a way to highlight the role of planners and the importance of good planning in our communities. Across the country, communities celebrate planning through a variety of avenues including having a mayoral proclamation declaring October as community planning month; planning department open houses; community tours of APA designated Great Places in America; or photo contests. Planning is essential for our communities to prosper and maintain balance and cohesiveness.