The Town of Barnstable and its villages sought to create a long-term guidance document based on shared vision, local values, and community consensus. This plan will provide a policy framework for growth and development of the community’s facilities and infrastructure, economy, and natural and cultural resources over the next ten to twenty years.
The scope of work for Phase I included data collection and an inventory of the existing conditions in the community and the creation of a vision statement based on civic engagement throughout Barnstable. Organized into natural, built, and community systems, we sought to organize Barnstable’s diverse and interconnected needs and challenges according to their component parts, which is a model of the Cape Cod Commission’s Regional Policy Plan. With input from more than 1,500 residents in the community survey, community presentations and workshops in each village, and other outreach, we aimed to create a living document that will shape Barnstable’s future.
Topics in the plan include groundwater, marine waters, freshwater lakes and ponds, wetland resources, open space and recreation, wildlife habitat, land use and development, drinking water supply, wastewater management, stormwater management, transportation and circulation, utilities and public services, population, housing, cultural and historic resources, and the local economy.