Urban Planner Develops Perfect Comprehensive Plan, City Council Uses It as Coaster

The city of Oakville adopted its new Comprehensive Plan in 2023 after a two-year development process involving 40 community workshops, 3,000 survey responses, a $300,000 consulting contract, and what lead planner Dr. Sarah Blueprint described as 'the most thorough public engagement process in the city's history.' In the eighteen months since adoption, the plan has influenced exactly zero land use decisions.

'It's a beautiful document,' Dr. Blueprint said, holding the 400-page bound volume. 'The maps are gorgeous. The vision statement is inspiring. The implementation matrix has 247 action items with timelines and responsible parties clearly identified. It was adopted unanimously. And no one has opened it since.'

A review of city council decisions since the plan's adoption reveals a pattern of approvals that contradict the plan's core recommendations with remarkable consistency. The plan calls for increased density along transit corridors; the council approved a downzoning of the main transit corridor. The plan recommends mixed-use development in the commercial district; the council approved a single-use warehouse. The plan identifies a critical need for affordable housing; the council approved a luxury golf course.

'I raised the comprehensive plan at a council meeting and the mayor asked what it was,' Dr. Blueprint said. 'I said, "The comprehensive plan you voted to adopt sixteen months ago." He said, "Doesn't ring a bell." His coffee mug was sitting on a copy of it. There was a ring stain on the cover.'

The state requires municipalities to adopt comprehensive plans and to make land use decisions 'consistent with' those plans. Enforcement of this requirement, however, is what Dr. Blueprint describes as 'theoretical.'

'The comprehensive plan is the most important document in urban planning that no one reads,' she said. 'It is the Magna Carta of municipal governance, if the Magna Carta had been immediately filed in a drawer and replaced with whatever the king felt like doing.'