Help Shape Plainfield's Future! Click here to take the Comprehensive Plan Survey.
Paper copies of the survey are also available at the Shaw Memorial Library and Town Offices.
What is a Comprehensive Plan
A Comprehensive Plan is a living document that recommends specific steps to help a community achieve goals that have been articulated by the community through a public engagement process.
Comprehensive Plans are essential components of community planning and are required by State law in Chapter 41B of the Massachusetts General Laws. Plainfield has not had such a plan before and it is hoped that by having one, it will not only assist in guiding our decision making moving forward, but make us more competitive in seeking and securing State and Federal funds for our priority projects. Due to our high residential tax rate, it is imperative that additional funding sources are identified and awarded in order for us to accomplish capital projects and achieve our community’s goals.
Towards that end, on January 9, 2024 our Planning Board recommended and the Select Board supported the creation of a Steering Committee to undertake this effort. The committee is composed of Peter Lapointe from the Planning Board, Peg Keller from the Zoning Board, Jack Nelson from the Conservation Commission, Anna Hanchett from the Agricultural Commission and Dalila Madison Almquist from the Finance Committee and liaison to One Plainfield.
Steps in Creating a Comprehensive Plan
- Visioning and Goal setting
- Engaging the public
- Developing vision statements and goals
- Data collection and inventory
- Preparing existing land use map
- Inventory and assess each element of the plan
- Data analyses
- Formulating future development scenarios based on community vision
- Create maps
- Evaluate future conservation and development opportunities
- Select a preferred plan for conservation and growth
- Prepare and adopt the plan
- Implement the plan
- Monitor the plan and evaluate implementation progress
- Amend and update the plan
For step #1, the Steering Committee sponsored listening sessions over the 2024 summer season. The session topics were organized according to components that are required in Comprehensive Plans. Those sessions were:
- Transportation, Roads, Infrastructure (July 18, 2024)
- Economic Development/ Business (August 8,2024)
- Facilities and Services (August 29,2024)
- Arts/Culture/Recreation (September 19, 2024)
- Housing, Agriculture, Land Use (October 10, 2024)
The summaries of those Listening Sessions can be found on the Session Summaries page.
Timeline
The Steering Committee will continue to do outreach with various groups and individuals over the summer (2025). A public session will be held in late September to reflect back to residents what has been heard and learned. Writing will begin in the fall. The Steering Committee may seek outside funding for technical assistance for items like map production or sample zoning recommendations. It is hoped that a draft document will be available for review and comment early in 2026. After edits, the “final” document will be presented to the community at the annual town meeting in 2026. After adoption by our town, it will be submitted to the State for approval. The Steering Committee looks forward to full participation and input by all residents! This is your/our plan! Updates will be posted in the Post and on Everything Plainfield.
Questions and comments can be submitted to Peter Lapointe (plapointe [at] town.plainfield.ma.us (plapointe[at]town[dot]plainfield[dot]ma[dot]us)) or Peg Keller at (plapointe [at] town.plainfield.ma.us (pkeller[at]town[dot]plainfield[dot]ma[dot]us)) at any time during the process. Thank you!