Introduction
In Cocoa Beach, comprehensive planning entails a critical process within the society, determining certain objectives with an aim to improve the livelihood in the entire community. The last stage is the attainment of a detailed plan aiding in the formulation of a comprehensive plan, widely known as a general plan, or a master plan relating to given turn around strategies within the community. It regulates all the activities targeted in the project, regulations on the usage of land and other natural resources included in this plan, transportation policies, utilities, and housing plans and methods are also catered in the comprehensive planning scheme. This type of planning encompasses a vast geographical locations like big towns and takes care of many topics vital n the normal functioning of the towns and these geographical areas; hence the term comprehensive planning is mainly used by the urban planning officers in America.
According to Bunnel & Jepson, 2011 all cities and the states in the United States like Cocoa Beach have developed and adopted their comprehensive plan to aid in the planning and using national resources in the location. The plan is regularly updated to cater to all the new societal changes. This benefits society in both the long term and the short-term planning because it makes it easy to control the resources in a specific geographical setting. The document is regarded as one of the most valuable government documents; hence, much care and precision are invested in its development (Bunnel & Jepson, 2011). Slight errors in the formulation could lead to the development of vast and errors like the omission of specific house planning leads to poor structural planning of a town; hence challenges like overpopulation, congestion traffic, and pollution are likely to occur. Comprehensive planning in the early 19th and 20th centuries has been the most vital part of developing clean and admirable towns in the United States. The comprehensive plan is critical in city planning and tracking various developments within urban areas. In some cases, the comprehensive plan is instrumental in determining an urban area’s economic status and keeping human demographics.
Detailed Description of Local Comp Planning Process
Comprehensive planning and zoning in Cocoa Beach work under a specific, definite procedure that should be followed to ensure the achievement of the best results from the project. The process is not limited to a specific number of steps and procedures. Sticking with the plan helps the planners assess an extensive range of issues and potential problems that need to be solved. The issues are interconnected; hence solving one issue is likely to help solve the other in an urban setting (Davidoff, 1965). Every single step of the process is viewed to be independent. They are regularly revised to best fit the requirements of the planner and help in developing a solution to a particular challenge like water shortage because different problems have different areas to assess, e.g., when the problem is specific like water shortage, you focus on the aspects that are likely to affect the water supply like the piping system and all the leakages and the water pumps in a particular geographical location.
The first step of the procedure is identifying the issues that need a solution. To maintain the relevance of the planning and zoning work, planners need first to assess the required changes ask the residents their views, and by doing this, they can know what they are planning for solving. Involving the residents is critical because it helps in understanding their wishes. After all, the necessary change needs to be the best for them and help to affect them negatively. The second stage is formulating the goals based on the assessment findings. All the goals should be directed to solving the challenges found; the goals should be realistic to ensure that they are achieved in good time before a crisis arises from the problem. For example, if the problem was housing, the goal should be a building of better and affordable housing in a specific target time before houselessness and congestion start developing.
According to Fasth et al., 2020 data collection is also another significant stage in comprehensive planning. The need for data is to help evaluate the current condition of the geographical area. Data is essential in foreseeing the future of the conditions, like lack of housing. Gathering the number of people who lack houses will help evaluate the magnitude of the effect and predict how many people will lack houses in the next year (Fasth et al., 2020). The most critical data needed in the social data like the population size, economic conditions of the area, and other environmental information like the climate in a particular area and the traffic of that area. After data is collected, deep analysis is taken, and outcomes like economic prediction, future housing conditions, and population size are developed. Preparation of the plan is another important stage, the information gathered in goal formation and data collection procedures are used. In Cocoa Beach, a good plan starts with providing the essential background of the issue’s current and the near future conditions; the plan is used to implement this goal into the community. Planning comprises several sections likely to affect the community, like the transportation sector and housing.
Elements of Local Comp Plan
Implementation plan creation plan is beneficial for comprehensive planning. At this stage, various programmed are brought to the table and evaluated, and the plans include the financial strategy plans and the effectiveness associated with them. Alternatives help reduce cost but maintain the same quality and time for work (Brody et al., 2003). Adopting the plan is another stage. The government takes it as an official policy, and it is effective for execution from that time. The procedure is performed mainly by the city council of the respective area after they have got briefed on the required changes, and these changes will get made. On some occasions, the city council fails to adopt the plan due to lack of adequate information and high risks in the changes without avoiding them. For example, there should be another backup road to get used in road construction, but adopting the plan is illegal if it is lacking.
According to Lindblom, 2018, the final stage of developing a comprehensive plan is to implement and monitor the outcomes. Using the implementation plan formulated in the latter stages is key to the success of this plan. It should be used as it was made without additional new procedures or the removal of any procedures because that would violate the project’s validity, hence the risk of cancellation. The local officers monitor the effectiveness of the project, and they recommend if the plan helped find a solution for the challenges arrived at during assessment. A comprehensive plan is a dynamic document that changes to cater to the community’s ever-changing needs; hence, a good comprehensive plan should not showcase rigidity.
In California State in the United States of America, the comprehensive plan has many challenges to cover for and provide a solution. The comprehensive plan of this State is aimed at providing long-term solutions to the challenges and physically developing the State (Loh & Norton, 2013). There are laws set to govern the development of a comprehensive plan and its implementation, and if these requirements are not met, the comprehensive plan is suspended and considered illegal. Each plan for this State must have a long-term and short-term vision for the highlighted problem, very achievable and realistic goals, and the objectives for the plan are carefully structured to help develop society at large. Comprehensive planning in this State should cater to a wide range of topics like public land usage, housing structure, and patterns, hence helping avoid the development of poor houses, environmental conservation measures, and the containment of noise and other pollutants in the State.
Stakeholders in the Comp Planning Process
According to Marcuse, 2014 involvement of government officials found in Cocoa Beach in the implementation and the formulation of a comprehensive plan is key to the plan’s success. To perform any activity in society, one needs clearance and documentation from the government to be legal. If one has no permission, even data collection from the public is illegal and goes against the country’s rules (Marcuse, 2014). Different officials have different roles to play like the city council is responsible for the evaluation of the comprehensive plan to evaluate the risk factors that are associated with it, evaluate the benefits of the plan, consequences that are likely to arise, and the effects of the implementation of the same plan. If the disadvantages outweigh the advantages, the comprehensive plan is null and void. State data officials are very vital in helping the collection of population data; planners do not have to go to the locations and start counting people, but instead, they have to contact the state data officials for the population data, and this is very effective as it saves both time and capital that was supposed to be used in the project. Mayors who head their respective areas in the State are critical players in granting the planners’ permission to assess the area of need and develop the image on how the situation can be remedied. The mayor is also responsible for providing the baseline data of the problem affecting the residents in their respective areas of jurisdiction. People complain to the mayor about various issues; hence the mayor is rich in information and updated on the issues that affect people.
Transport authorities of a state that needs change are also vital stakeholders. They have all the required information on the condition of the roads and the various required changes, and if there is a poor road that affects the transportation of people somewhere, they are updated (Wildavsky, 1973). These officers are beneficial in developing a comprehensive care plan involving the transport sector. The local government housing officers are essential components in developing a plan because they know the housing conditioning. Their briefing to the planners is essential and time-saving. Instead, to move the whole State looking at each house to assess the population and need, the housing officers can get that information from their records, which will be very effective in saving time and capital.
The state government of Cocoa Beach is the main stakeholder in developing a comprehensive plan. The government provides all the resources needed for the success of the project. The government allocates the capital needed for this project through the ministry of finance, the personnel required are provided by it, and the government oversees the implementation of the project. People and, in this case, the residents hold a vital role as stakeholders in the formulation and implementation of the plan. This is because any change made in the society directly affects them, and they are the custodians of change in the society; they help collect data by explaining the issues that affect them and how they would prefer the issues to be taken care of the government. During the evaluation of the success or failure of a specific implemented plan, only the view of the resident’s count. If they decide that the change was wrong and it affected them negatively, that is it; they have the final decision.
Factors Influencing Comp Plan Development
Many factors are likely to influence a comprehensive plan to solve a particular problem; most challenges make it hard to develop and implement it. The challenges include the Uncooperative population in Cocoa Beach; if the population does not want to work with the planners, it is hard to figure out the plan for specific problems; the population provides some essential data needed to develop the plan. The second challenge is the interconnection of specific societal issues, e.g., high traffic sometimes is connected to poor structural planning of the town; hence the two challenges need to be budgeted on, and if the State is working from a thin budget, it is almost impossible to solve the problem.
Large population affects comprehensive planning. When constructing new houses, people must evacuate and create space, but the population numbers are high, and there is no place they can go until the new homes are developed and fit to live in (Arevalo et al., 2021). Increased traffic is hectic when developing a comprehensive plan to help in the road situations; busy roads are likely to provide o chance for expansion and repair the already existing roads in the country. People vie to change differently; applying the biblical viewpoint to this case will help make change relevant. The bible advocates for people living a better life and helping those in need; hence, from a biblical view, the development of a society is outstanding and pleases God.
Conclusion
In conclusion, every change in society just like in Cocoa Beach, there should be good planning, evaluation, implementation, and monitoring of the outcome to ensure the validity of the transition to achieve all that there is needed for the development of a detailed, comprehensive plan that is vital in guiding the society on how the change will get made and how it will get done. In any change, it is good to include the society and the government because this combination is helpful in the identification of the problem, and combined effort makes the world more accessible. The bible advocates for change in society as long as it is positive and aimed at making the lives of people living in it better.
References
Brody, S. D., Godschalk, D. R., & Burby, R. J. (2003). Mandating citizen participation in plan making: Six strategic planning choices. Journal of the American Planning Association, 69(3), 245-264.
Bunnell, G., & Jepson Jr, E. J. (2011). The effect of mandated planning on plan quality: a fresh look at what makes “a good plan.” Journal of the American Planning Association, 77(4), 338-353.
Davidoff, P. (1965). Advocacy and pluralism in planning. Journal of the American Institute of planners, 31(4), 331-338.
Fasth, T., Bohman, S., Larsson, A., Ekenberg, L., & Danielson, M. (2020). Portfolio decision analysis for evaluating stakeholder conflicts in land use planning. Group Decision and Negotiation, 29(2), 321-343.
Lindblom, C. (2018). The science of “muddling through” (pp. 31-40). Routledge.
Loh, C. G., & Norton, R. K. (2013). Planning consultants and local planning: Roles and values. Journal of the American Planning Association, 79(2), 138-147.
Marcuse, P. (2014). The paradoxes of public space. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 102-106.
Wildavsky, A. (1973). If planning is everything, maybe it’s nothing. Policy Sciences, 4(2), 127-153.
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