Regional Planning and Land Use

Contact: Jonathan Church (508) 459-3316 jchurch@cmrpc.org

Because local land use planning is conducted among each municipality under the Commonwealth’s Enabling Zoning Act, CMRPC was created to provide technical assistance and conduct and analyze future planning for regional growth for southern Worcester County. Regional planning is a branch of land use planning that analyzes the effect and recommends the efficient placement of land use activities, infrastructure and growth across a larger area of land than an individual city or town.

As part of that mission, CDAP created the 2020 Growth Strategy for Central Massachusetts in February 2000 as the final phase of its Development Framework. The 2020 Growth Strategy took an in-depth look at the Region as a whole and analyzed how the Region had developed to date, looked at development trends and growth issues, identified initiatives that the Commission would undertake to guide and control the region's future growth, and listed actions which could be undertaken by municipalities to guide their future growth. In December 2004, the Commission provided an update to the 2020 Growth Strategy that included 2000 U.S. Census data that was previously unavailable.

In addition to the 2020 Growth Strategy, CDAP conducted other analyses as part of the Development Framework. Profile reports have been prepared on population, environment, infrastructure, land use and the region's economy and provide member communities with a guide to tomorrow's growth and development. Utilizing CMRPC's Growth Suitability Model, developed with state assistance, staff and Commission members were able to evaluate different growth scenarios by changing the weights of factors such as access, and availability of water and sewer.

For more information on the 2020 Growth Strategy or the Development Framework
Contact Jonathan Church, (508) 459-3316