Gathering Public Input for Equitable Long-Range Planning

How to engage with residents today to shape thriving communities of tomorrow.

In 2023, Montana passed the Land Use Planning Act, which changes the way the state can address affordable housing shortages. And with the housing crisis across the United States, similar rules to bolster new development may become even more common. 

One of the goals of the Montana Land Use Planning Act is to avoid the type of not-in-my-backyard public sentiments that tend to challenge proposals for new subdivisions or multifamily developments. One of the primary tactics is to ask for community feedback before developers ever show up. Municipalities work to gather resident input to inform long-range goals for how a town might look in the future, which local leadership then uses as a guide when approving development proposals. These guides are generally referred to as long-range plans, comprehensive plans, master plans, or growth plans.

Intended to create a vision for what a community wants to be, these plans answer questions such as: Should our town grow fast or slow? Should there be increased density? What are the commercial, retail, or industrial needs? They’re meant to be holistic and high level and touch on elements such as land use, housing, transportation, sustainability, and local economies. 

Developing long-range plans can be tricky to navigate — in terms of communication and education, gathering public feedback, sorting through that feedback, and possibly shifting the way a community typically handles new development. Professional planners can help local governments effectively manage each step of the process with an end result that facilitates smart growth with community buy-in. 

Whatever the route taken, the most important question for residents to answer is: What do we want our community to be and to look like?

The Public Feedback Process

Because a long-range plan impacts current residents, immediate future residents, and generations beyond, it’s important to engage with as many people in the community as possible. This means you can’t solely rely on municipal meeting participants, as they may not be representative of the full population. In fact, a 2018 study found meeting attendees make up only a portion of the overall community demographic. According to the study, they tend to be older, male, longtime residents, voters in local elections, and homeowners. 

So, how do you reach a wider array of people with different viewpoints and lifestyles? For example, those who might work two jobs, or work evenings, or have kids who would require sitters to attend a meeting? There are many people who simply aren’t accustomed to showing up to a municipal building to give their input on public matters. These community members are no less important and should have an opportunity to be heard, but it requires different strategies to reach them.

Gathering representative public input in an equitable manner provides an important benefit to a town as a whole. It can lead to a greater sense of community when people see that a municipality wants residents to be involved in the process — especially when residents can see their input reflected later on in the plan.

Getting more people involved can be resource-intensive, but it will lead to a more equitable plan that more accurately reflects a community’s needs and wants. The overarching idea is to meet people where they are, rather than just letting them know they can attend a meeting. You’ll need to communicate what a community long-range plan is, why it’s important that everyone is involved, and how they can continue to stay in the loop throughout the process.

These are a few outreach strategies to consider:

Pop-ups: Show up at a transit station or grocery store, or have a booth at a community event such as a festival or farmers market. Provide an activity, game, or other way for people to engage with the process.

Community ambassadors: Find people in the community who are connected, trusted, and willing to be ambassadors for the project. They’ll be taking time out of their lives to help you with the planning process, so provide them with a stipend and training sessions. They should have a firm understanding of what the project is, its purpose, and how to facilitate a conversation about the plan and get others involved. While these ambassador programs can be difficult to manage at times, they’re a very successful tactic, creating a personal invitation from a known and trusted community member that goes further than a faceless text message or email blast.

Digital platforms: The public needs to understand their input matters and won’t be ignored. This is what makes the feedback loop so critical. You need to communicate back what you’ve heard. Summarize input received at any touchpoint and post it on a project website to say, “Hey, this is what we heard.” At the next community event, showcase that input: Did we hear you correctly? Or did we not hear you at all? Is this your first time engaging with this process? What more would you like to say? In addition to featuring community feedback, a website can provide a timeline for the planning process, updates, key dates for community members to attend meetings, and a forum for comments and questions. It should also include a resource section with the aforementioned community input as well as a zoning map and any other relevant community rules/ordinances. You can see an example here.

While you’re gathering public input, it’s important that it be managed in an equitable and transparent way. Catalog everything: Record every single comment you receive and have a team member responsible for tracking topics that come up regularly as well as general themes. Be prepared to share it transparently at any time it’s requested.

How to Use Your Long-Range Plan

Once you’ve collected and organized community input, you’re left with a comprehensive, long-range plan. This plan acts as a guiding document to help staff and officials make decisions about development proposals. When a developer comes to a municipality or county to apply for rezoning, for example, there’s public input already in place for what residents hope to see their town become. If the rezoning aligns with what the future land-use plan suggested — backed by ample public input — it gives community leaders reason to approve the proposed development.

(It’s also important to periodically update the future land-use map so it’s not outdated and still reflective of the current community. It’s a living document intended to change with the times.)

If some community members oppose new developments — because of a concern about diminishing property values, for example — officials should keep the original long-range plan in mind, knowing it was thoroughly informed by community feedback, and then find trusted information to alleviate concerns. In this case, sharing research on the impact of low-income housing on neighborhood property values could be helpful, as it points to positive impacts on property values rather than negative. 

Here’s the part that might make local leadership a bit nervous. Once it comes time for decisions to be made on rezoning or affordable housing, for example, it may be time to limit community input — especially if it takes away from the vision established in the long-range planning process. Often, this involves restructuring the development/zoning review process. The review can be administrative instead, handled by staff appointed to be the rezoning reviewers. There would be no need for a public hearing as they would be working from the long-range plan. 

This all underscores the importance of letting people know they should let their voices be heard during the long-range planning process because their input will help drive decisions made in the future. Explain that the structure of the rezoning or development review process is changing, so you encourage community members to speak up now.

This is a reason to have professional planners engage with the public as part of the planning process. These professionals can help people understand what makes sense (and what’s possible) when it comes to land use and help determine what the needs of the community are — across demographics. Planners have been through this process before and understand the local regulations, how increased density is often necessary to address affordable housing needs, and how to educate the community on these sometimes controversial topics.

A long-range plan is an incredible opportunity to engage with the public in an equitable way. When done thoughtfully, it builds not just a guide to how the town will look in the future — addressing both challenges and aspirations — but also strengthens the sense of community among its members.