In the past month, someone was searching our website for the term "example of bad community development plan." That started us thinking.

We didn't want to call out any specific real-life bad plan example, but we can speak with confidence about generic bad plan types. Ponder this list, arranged from the worst to the "least bad" but still bad!

1. Worst: No written plan.

2. No discussion of and research into how the plan could be financed.

3. No attention given to who and what entity will be responsible for implementation of each part of the plan.

4. Lack of regard for current residents or business tenants, their well being, and their opinions and feelings.

5. Failure to recognize the potential of existing buildings and infrastructure.

6. Under-appreciation for the importance of pedestrian activity.

7. Non-existent or unrealistic proposal for how to phase the project (the order in which milestones should be reached)

8. Denial of obvious problems such as crime and large but architecturally incompatible buildings

9. Resistance to a mix of resident incomes

10. Refusal to plan for an appealing and feasible commercial mix.

See these pages of the website for discussion of positive traits of sound community planning processes, good neighborhood planning, and appropriate comprehensive plan contents.

As is our habit, we answered some questions submitted on the website. These are the new ones:

How to establish a historical designation for a neighborhood

Closed business now an eyesore

Construction business operating in a residential area