Master Plan Movement

Monday evening, May 3, the Lawrence Township Planning Board unanimously adopted a Sustainability Element for the Township’s Master Plan.

Big news.  Good news.  Because if you live here, you are part of a growing congregation of local folks who want to make Lawrence sustainable.  And who are serious enough to institutionalize it.

Give thanks.  To the Planning Board and the task force of folks who had been meeting since last August to put this together.  And to the Township official who served on the task force and supported the process throughout.  Lots of gratitude to spread around here.

What this means: the Sustainability Element provides clear, strong guidance (note: it’s not a law; it does not force anyone to do anything) on how we treat the challenge of new buildings, neighborhood redevelopment, transportation, pedestrian accommodations, energy use, land preservation, and much, much more, as we go forward.

We did good here.  How about a collective (all 32,000 of us) reaching around to pat ourselves on the back.  Not a bad idea.

Now, of course, begins phase two of this work: converting the good ideas now embodied in the Master Plan into ordinances.  With teeth.  How far we will get with this, or how soon, remains to be seen.  We cannot arbitrarily require everything to be green.  Not yet anyway.  But that day may come.

Cannot exit this post without thanking and praising Beth McManus for the work she did to help the Sustainability Element emerge in the form it has.  Beth, a Sustainable Lawrence board member, is also the professional planner hired by the Township to manage the process of developing the Sustainability Element.  She showed more than a little skill, creativity, and herd-management ability as she moved the whole thing along.  People of this township are in her debt.

See the Sustainability Element at: http://www.lawrencetwp.com

Ralph