The City of Branson is beginning the process of revising and developing its Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan “is the City’s principal guide for use in the daily planning decisions regarding growth, development and regulation of current and future development within city limits. It will provide the city with a blueprint, vision and decision-making guide to help it to be proactive in developing a shared vision for the future of Branson over the next 10 to 15 years.
Mark Colussy, Branson’s Strategic Initiatives Coordinator, said that for the plan to be all it can be, it will involve input from the whole community. The following interview, in Q & A format explains what the Plan is and how the input from Branson’s residents, businesses and visitors is central to the Plan’s vision and effectiveness. Colussy’s response (MC) to the questions by the Branson Globe (BG) follow below:
BG: What is a Comprehensive Plan?
MC: The city’s Comprehensive Plan is a guide into the future to start thinking about where we want to be 10 to 15 years from now so that we can start to plan ahead for the desired future that the public decides that it would like to see. It's really a snapshot into the future which will allow us to develop a game plan for how we're going to get there. It will look at all the different city services, and investigate transportation, housing, land use, utilities, public services, etc. and start thinking about doing all those services to meet the needs that the people would like to see in Branson over the next 10 to 15 years.
BG: How are we going to do that?
MC: By using a multiple-step process involving a lot of different members from the community. The first thing that the city had done was to develop a Comprehensive Planning Committee. It’s comprised of many key stakeholders within our community who know their field, their unique vocation, and know the city as well as anybody. They can provide really high-quality feedback to start thinking about.
BG: Will the Comprehensive Planning Committee be the main source of feedback for the Comprehensive Plan?
MC: No. They provide a starting point and will provide a variety of perspectives throughout the process, but this truly is the Public's Plan.
BG: What do you mean by “this truly is the Public’s Plan?”
MC: We want as much public participation as possible from Branson residents, homeowners, renters, property owners, businesses, employees, workers, tourists, etc., throughout the process from the very beginning to the final adoption of the Comprehensive Plan.
BG: Why is that so important?
MC: It’s an inclusive community plan and vision for where “the public” wants Branson to be 10 to 15 years from now. To do that, it's critical that as we start to develop a vision for the future of the city, we get a variety of different ideas and perspectives.
BG: How do we go about doing that?
MC: Through the use of three primary tools: a public survey, stakeholder interviews and public workshops.
BG: How important is the public survey?
MC: It’s one of the first critical steps in the development of the Comprehensive Plan because it provides data and tells us what Branson residents, homeowners, renters, property owners, businesses, employees, workers, tourists, etc., would like to see in the Plan. We really want to hear from everybody. If we could get a lot of feedback from all of our residents, our business owners, and a good segment of our tourists that would provide an excellent foundation upon which to develop the plan. If we don’t get feedback, we won’t know what direction to take.
BG: Who can take the public survey?
MC: Any Branson resident, homeowner, renter, property owner, business, employee, worker, tourist, etc.
BG: Why should the average person or business participate in the public survey?
MC: Public participation in the survey is one of the most important parts of the process. The Comprehensive Plan can only be as good as the data used to develop it. The results of the survey will be the building block for the Plan’s vision and implementation goals.
BG: Is anyone going to pay attention to it?
MC. Absolutely! We don't go into it with preconceived ideas as to what the goals of the Plan are going to be. It's really going to be developed based on the public feedback we get from the survey, interviews and workshops.
BG: When will the surveys be available?
MC: The format and content of the survey are under development now and should be ready for distribution in early February. It will be announced in the media and on the city’s website.
BG: How will people get access to the survey?
MC: The city will be mailing announcement postcards to all mailboxes within the city. The survey will be available on the city’s website and at various locations throughout the city, which will be identified upon the public announcement of the survey’s availability.
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