This month, we kick off a blog series on hot topics in harbor planning. Before taking a deep dive into some of the most common needs and opportunities we see during the harbor planning process, we thought we would take this opportunity to share a bit more about what a harbor plan is and why communities decide to do them. 

At the most basic level, a harbor plan is a community-driven plan that captures a municipality’s goals and visions as they relate to their harbors, waterways, and coastal areas.  

A harbor planning process typically starts with the formation of a committee comprised of people who can represent the interests of the community. Many committees include municipal staff (e.g., harbormasters, conservation commissioners, shellfish wardens), municipal committee representatives (e.g., members of a select board or planning board), and representatives of key interest groups. These groups include commercial fishers, recreational boaters, neighborhood associations, environmental justice organizations, environmental organizations, and others. The purpose of the committee is to provide local context to the planning process—helping to engage the community, serving as a conduit between the planning process and the entity they represent, and helping to prioritize recommendations and plan for implementation. 

Once a committee has been established, they work to define a harbor planning area. At this step, it is important to note that the term “harbor plan” itself may be misleading. Often times, a “harbor planning area” includes all of the navigable coastal waterways of a community. Sometimes, the planning area includes one or multiple harbors with boating facilities and commercial development. Other times, the plan includes bays, tidal rivers, or stretches of shoreline that have little commercial activity and mostly rural or residential land uses. All of these areas are appropriate for harbor plans. The goal of establishing a planning area is to include land in Chapter 91 – The Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act – jurisdiction (this is especially true for state-approved harbor plans), and any land or waterways that contribute to the needs and challenges a community would like to address. For some topics, such as water quality, the planning area does not extend to the full extent of the topic (in this case, the entire watershed). Instead, the plan focuses on how activities beyond the planning area impact aspects of the planning area. With a committee in place and a planning area established, the next step is often to engage the public.  

Public input  plays a role throughout the planning process but is essential in the early stages because it creates community ownership of the plan, illuminates what makes the community’s waterways special, highlights how people engage with the waterways, begins to clarify what people are most concerned about, and allows people to share their visions for the area’s future. .  

The format of public engagement is specific to each community. Workshops, formal presentations, surveys, interviews, open houses, online mapping tools, drop-in sessions, and other strategies have all been effective, but their level of effectiveness can depend on the community. One of the benefits of having a strong committee is their ability to help steer the public engagement process. Committee members will know how to publicize events, where to conduct outreach to maximize effectiveness, incentives to encourage survey participation, and strategies to engage under-represented voices and specific stakeholder groups. 

Along with public engagement, harbor planning involves research to establish baseline conditions and build a series of goals, objectives, and recommendations. Examples of data sources include comprehensive plans, open space and recreation plans, resilience plans, water quality data, mooring waitlists, shellfish landings and license data, municipal annual reports, dredging studies, and interviews with key staff and stakeholders. These resources allow us to document what is known about the community and identify key gaps that should be addressed through the planning process. 

Goals, objectives, and recommendations are then developed based on the research, community input, and best practices. 

Once a plan is drafted, the committee reviews it to make sure that the background information is accurate and complete, and the goals, objectives, and recommendations are consistent with the community’s vision. Following committee approval, the draft is shared for public comment. Comments are integrated into the plan as appropriate, and then the plan is shared with the selectboard for approval. 

If this is a municipally-approved plan, the selectboard’s approval is the last approval in order to make the plan official. We often encourage communities to establish an implementation committee, or charge an existing committee with that role in order to make sure that the plan remains active.. 

If this is a state-approved plan, the process is more involved – both at the outset and on the tail end, and implementation occurs at both the state and municipal level. We will address the state planning process in a later blog, but information can also be found on the Office of Coastal Zone Management’s website. 

In our next installment, we will share information about why a community might want to develop a harbor plan. Once we have covered what a harbor plan is and why they can be useful, we will spend the rest of the series covering some of the “hot topics” from recent plans. We invite you to follow us on Facebook or LinkedIn to ensure that you receive notifications each time a new blog in the series is available.