Using community surveys with participatory mapping to monitor comprehensive plan implementation

Comprehensive or general plans are long-range documents intended to guide future urban regional land use, growth, and development. Structured periodic monitoring evaluation of plan implementation is important identifying when should be revised updated based on changed planning assumptions conditions, but such uncommon. In this study we present illustrate a research-based method evaluate for case-study community located in central California. A survey was combined with participatory mapping assess continued public approval key elements the plan: 1) residential 2) development needs, 3) preferred locations (spatial), 4) consistency resident use preferences categories 5) areas greatest potential conflict (spatial). Over five-year period following adoption, there relatively little change growth perceived need new types development, exception affordable housing; however, city three large, mixed-use projects, while nominally conforming plan, generated scale location. As novel method, provides means assumptions, desired goals can proactively identify place-based conflicts among various interests optimized outcomes.