IMPLEMENTATION
The Corporation of Shepherdstown Comprehensive Plan Update has produced a document that is intended to guide the actions of the Town’s elected and appointed officials and staff, as well as other stakeholders in the community, as they move forward to achieve the vision established by the plan. This is a plan of action, with a significant number of goals identified to achieve and corresponding implementation strategies set out to assist the community in achieving those goals.
Moving forward, it will be critical to continuously monitor the status of progress on achieving the plan’s goals, as the Town has diligently done with previous planning efforts. At a minimum, town staff, the Planning Commission and Town Council should review progress on plan implementation on an annual basis and set priorities for implementation during each budget cycle to ensure that the budget accounts for plan implementation needs and staff or other responsible parties are given the resources and direction necessary to realize the plan’s vision and achieve the goals that lead to it.
The goals and strategies outlined in the study were compiled into an implementation matrix to be used as a quick and easy reference for the community to review priorities and to allow the Town to monitor the progress on implementing the goals and strategies outlined in the plan. The matrix assigns priorities, resources, timeframes and responsible parties to each implementation strategy, to help stakeholders understand the most effective approach to implementing the strategies.
The following are descriptions of each of the categories:
- Implementation Strategies – Each major strategy was derived through the research of current conditions and input from stakeholders. Each strategy is intended to be an action item that will occur during the process of achieving the goal that it is associated with.
- Priority – Due to the limited resources that are faced by all levels of government, priorities are identified for each strategy to help guide the community toward achieving the most critical goals. Priorities are indicated as “high”, “medium”, or ‘low”, with “high” being the most pressing or urgent. Since some high priority items may take longer to achieve than low priority items, the community may see some of those lower priority strategies underway due to the quick turnaround associated with them or their ease of accomplishment. As resources become available, or as community needs or desires change during the implementation of the plan, decisions will likely be made to increase the priority of certain actions while decreasing the priority of others.
- Resources – Resources are primarily related to financial resources necessary to complete the implementation strategies. The tables uses the “$” symbol to represent a theoretical range of necessary capital. Actual resources could be more or less depending on the final scope of the project or more detailed cost estimates. The ranges are as follows:
- $ - Less than $10,000
$$ - $10,000-$50,000
$$$ - $50,000-$100,000
$$$$ - More than $100,000
Policy – Not outside of normal annual budget expenditures
- $ - Less than $10,000
- Timeframe – Represents the timeframe in which each action step should be addressed. Generally, shorter timeframes infer a higher priority. Timeframes are indicated in the matrix as short-term, intermediate, or long-term. Below is a description of each timeframe.
- Short-term - should be achieved in less than two years.
- Intermediate - should be achieved in two to five years.
- Long-term - may take longer than five years.
- Ongoing - Some strategies are designated as “ongoing” due to need for constant efforts toward achieving the goal.
- Short-term - should be achieved in less than two years.
- Responsible Parties – This category identifies partnersassociated with the Corporation that should be responsible for the completion of each action step. The inclusion of a consultant or other outside party may be necessary to help implement and achieve certain objectives. The abbreviations for each responsible party listed in the matrix are listed below.
Responsible Parties (Town)- TC - Town Council
- CPC – Comprehensive Planning Committee FC – Finance Committee
- HLC – Historic Landmarks Committee
- PKC - Parking Committee
- PRC – Parks and Recreation Committee
- PC - Planning Commission
- POC – Police Committee
- PWC – Public Works Committee
- TRC – Tree Committee
- WSB – Water & Sewer Board
Partner Organizations- HIS - Historic Shepherdstown, Inc.
- SBA – Shepherdstown Business Association SVC – Shepherdstown Visitors Center
- SU – Shepherd University
- TC - Town Council