Growth Management

Chapter 41 Section 81D establishes the primary section of the Local Comprehensive Plan to govern the growth of the town, in the largest sense of the term “Growth Management.” This section addresses the vision for the town; provides the general demographic and land use trends that make Dennis what it is today and looks at future projections of what the town could be; finally the section wraps up with the economic development strategy for the town, a strategy for both growth and preservation. This section of the plan, while coming first, will also rely on much of the data found in the remaining sections of the plan. In fact, this section is possibly the most circuitous portion of the plan as land use and economic development expectations will guide the development of the remaining sections of the plan, those sections will also necessitate a continuous feedback loop calling upon the town to consider, and reconsider, all of our assumptions.

This section relates to Chapter 41 Section 81 D in the following ways:

(1) Goals and policies statement which identifies the goals and policies of the municipality for its future growth and development. Each community shall conduct an interactive public process, to determine community values, goals and to identify patterns of development that will be consistent with these goals.

(2) Land use plan element which identifies present land use and designates the proposed distribution, location and inter-relationship of public and private land uses. This element shall relate the proposed standards of population density and building intensity to the capacity of land available or planned facilities and services. A land use plan map illustrating the land use policies of the municipality shall be included.

(4) Economic development element which identifies policies and strategies for the expansion or stabilization of the local economic base and the promotion of employment opportunities.

SECTION SUMMARY

The Growth Management element of the Dennis Comprehensive Plan serves to provide the vision for the town. The vision statement, while at the front of the document will be refined with every discussion and comment made on the plan. For this reason, we started with asking the residents, both year round and seasonal, visitors and business people to react to the vision that was put forward in 2002.

Following the vision of the town, is a discussion of the town by the numbers. Looking at census and other demographic data, land use changes, permits issued, etc. we get a view of how we arrived where we are today. Taking this data, and looking at mandates, and projected trends we also can create one vision for where we are heading. This “vision” is based upon trends. Once we know the trends, we can identify strategies that reinforce, or change, these trends. That is where alternate visions for the town become important.

The final portion of the Growth Management Section provides for the economic future of the town. This section relies upon input from many of the other sections of the plan as well. The economic future of Dennis is a compilation of water quality, open space preservation, historic preservation, etc. In the end, the economic development portion of the plan provides the tools for balance.

Revised November 7, 2011