The Missouri Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA-Missouri) recently announced that the City of Marshfield is the recipient of its 2020 Outstanding Plan award. The Marshfield Community Growth Plan includes a comprehensive scope that focuses on meeting the demand for residential growth, leveraging the region’s rising economic opportunities, and balancing essential infrastructure improvements with quality of life amenities. CMT was commissioned to lead the planning effort, the first full update the city had undertaken since 2003.
“This is a much-deserved award for the City of Marshfield and all the community partners who contributed to this ambitious effort,” said Scott Hanson, a regional and urban planner who led the project on behalf of CMT. “Everyone involved, from economic development groups to school districts to government agencies, went above and beyond to ensure that Marshfield is moving in the right direction with a plan to guide them every step of the way.”
In evaluating the Marshfield Community Growth Plan, APA Missouri cited three elements of the plan that made it deserving of this state-wide award:
- The use of vision casting to encourage citizen participation in the planning effort.
- Proposed extensions of sanitary sewer utilities to allow for future development.
- An implementation plan with specific action items, completion dates, and assigned community partners to assist in their implementation.
“We worked hard to ensure that we identified every opportunity, along with addressing concerns, so that city can move into the future with their eyes wide open. Having had the honor of working with so many dedicated and hard-working people during this project, I’m confident that bright days are ahead for Marshfield,” Hanson said.
CMT provides urban and regional planning for communities and organizations. Their performance-based planning and programming approach ensures that the client’s investment decisions are based on sound information focused on building upon past efforts, achieving established goals, and preparing for needs and opportunities in the future.