The Downtown Master Plan

The Master Plan, or Comprehensive Plan, is the planning document which gives a general framework which includes planning for the development of downtown, or the center city, area. Charles Haar1 has referred to the master plan as a form of "impermanent constitution." Its purpose is to lay out a future for an area, and to provide reasonable certainty and predictability for potential investors.

The purposes of a downtown master plan are numerous. The downtown master plan should give direction for positive change, indicating how much and what kind of development is appropriate, and what is not. It should also give guidance for day-to-day decisions by city officials, since the planning commission and city council cannot and should not handle all the details of the development process. It should suggest the impact of changes over time. The plan can give better visual definition to the downtown--recommending height restrictions and setbacks, for example. It should include a plan for the regeneration of older, blighted areas, and also give outlines for concerns of historic character and the preservation of historic fabric. The master plan should deal with the timing of development, suggesting an appropriate time frame for the development or redevelopment of various areas. Finally, the plan should serve as a document for the common citizen to understand proposed changes and put them in a proper context, and it should define obligations for city officials and those that follow on appropriate decision-making.2

Traditionally, the characteristics of a master plan are that it plans for the physical development of the downtown, that it is future oriented, and that it is geographically inclusive and looks at the entire downtown or center city. Elements of the plan will include a designation of permitted land uses, development of public facilities, and an analysis or transportation and circulation patterns. Such master plans are usually developed using the "rational planning process," a process that includes the following steps.

What the Master Plan should do...

  1. Give direction for positive change while keeping livability (guide how much development)
  2. Give guidance for day-to-day decisions
  3. Give better visual definition physically (height restrictions, open space)
  4. analyze impact of new development (especially the impact of new roads, sewer lines)
  5. Give guidance for redevelopment of older areas (blight removal vs. historic rehab)
  6. Encourage proper timing for development (e.g., provide incentives for housing, not offices, in downtowns)
  7. Should be clear enough for common citizen to comprehend
  8. Should be considered an obligation for elected officials and those that follow.

The Master Plan and Zoning

Master plans are important planning documents, and should be the primary document for planning an area of a city. But historically, master plans, which deal with policies and programs, have been overlooked in favor of documents that deal with regulations. For instance, although zoning ordinances are meant to follow the ideas of the master plan, very often zoning regulations preceded the development of the plan.
City planning courses teach that zoning regulations represent the means for implementing master plans; but the first New York City zoning resolution predates the establishment of the New York City Planning Commission by twenty-two years, and the publication of the city's first comprehensive plan by fifty-three years. The experience of other American cities has been similar, showing that zoning first, planning afterwards, is the usual sequence.3

1 Charles M. Haar and Jerold S. Kayden. 1989. Zoning and the American Dream: Promises Still to Keep. Chicago: Planners Press.
2 From a paper prepared for the Michigan Society of Planning Officials conference in March, 1992, prepared by Mark Eidelson, Brenda Moore and Mark Wyckoff.
3 Jonathan Barnett. 1982. An Introduction to Urban Design. New York: Harper and Row.
Suggested other pages...
Profile of Planning DepartmentThe New Master Plan
Planning Dept. Organization ChartZoning versus the Master Plan
Zoning for Downtowns