State Street Waterfront Park Community Meeting for Master Plan

Newburyport Master Plan

“Shaping Our Future, Honoring Our Past”

Taintor & Associates assisted the coastal community of Newburyport, Massachusetts (pop. 17,000) to develop a comprehensive Master Plan to guide the City's growth into the future. The project was coordinated by Rick Taintor, as project manager for the consulting team, and Nancy Colbert, the City's Planning Director

Over the course of 18 months in 2000-2001, Taintor & Associates led over 50 volunteers in forming five “Task Forces” focusing on Land Use and Community Character, Open Space and Recreation, Public Facilities and Infrastructure, Housing, and Economic Development. Taintor & Associates provided extensive existing conditions analysis, never before compiled within the community, to launch a consensus-based visioning process. A build-out projection, as well as a critical review of the City's zoning ordinance, helped citizens envision how they could best shape development to complement the community's historic pattern.

Using innovative outreach techniques such as web bulletin boards, cable television shows, radio spotlights, surveys, and widely-distributed brochures, the planning process gathered the input of hundreds of people who discussed the issues confronting the city in over 75 public meetings. This broad approach resulted in a plan that received the unanimous support of the Planning Board and City Council.

Master Plan Documents

The following documents from the Newburyport Master Plan reflect the process that Taintor & Associates used to move from visioning and analysis through to specific action recommendations, producing a final Action Plan with detailed steps that the community can use as a guide to implementation in coming years.

Existing Conditions Report (January 2001)
The first master plan report presents the findings of the initial phases of the master planning project, which included (1) a comprehensive inventory and analysis of existing data and trends, and (2) a series of community-wide meetings. [PDF, 556K]

Vision, Goals & Priorities (January 2001)
Based on the information gathered from the analysis and resident input, the consultants drafted a narrative vision statement and draft goals. In addition, several “Priorities for Action” were identified to give a strategic focus to the master plan. The vision, goals and priorities were reviewed by a project steering committee appointed by the Mayor, and revisions were made which are reflected in this document. [PDF, 600K]

Goals, Policies & Strategies (March 2001)
Represents the next phase of the planning process, in which specific policies, strategies and actions were defined to support and implement the previously adopted goals (page 12 of the report presents an outline of the structure of the plan, explaining this planning hierarchy). The document also recaps the “Priorities for Action” and includes a description of the various methods by which the Master Plan can be implemented. [PDF, 444K]

Master Plan (September 2001)
Continuing the link with previous phases of the project, this final document presents the priority areas, goals, policies and strategies, as well as summaries of the key challenges and opportunities facing the City for each substantive planning area. The most important addition in this document is the detailed Implementation Program, which includes a discussion of the nine highest priority strategies, an Action Plan listing all recommended implementation strategies in order of priority, with their supporting actions and responsible agencies, and a detailed implementation matrix (see below). [PDF, 1.6 MB]

Action Plan Matrix
This matrix presents all the Master Plan's recommended strategies sorted according to functional planning elements, and includes recommended timelines, estimated costs and/or staff hours required to implement, and additional explanatory notes. [PDF, 80K]


ABOUT THE FIRM | PORTFOLIO | CURRENT PROJECTS | NEWS
PLANNING LINKS | CONTACT US | RETURN HOME

TAINTOR & ASSOCIATES, INC.
22 Unicorn St. - PO Box 898
Newburyport, MA 01950-5598

Phone: 978-462-0404
Fax: 978-462-0107

Email: info@taintorassociates.com