Provided by City of Manassas
The City of Manassas Long Range Planning Division has received two prestigious awards. They recognize the excellence of the City’s 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and the Community Conversations public engagement initiative by the Virginia Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).
APA Virginia Commonwealth Plan of the Year Award
The APA Virginia Commonwealth Plan of the Year Award honors Virginia’s best planning document of the year demonstrating outstanding planning processes, vision, implementation strategies and innovative approaches. Award judges stated that the 2040 Manassas Comprehensive Plan looks ahead to the year 2040. It sketches out both big-picture issues and neighborhood-specific plans that guide future land use, development, recreation, preservation, and transportation policy decisions.
Old Dominion Innovative Approaches Award
The Old Dominion Innovative Approaches Award honors the City’s Community Conversations engagement initiative that was essential in guiding the 2040 Plan. It recognizes pioneering planning efforts including innovative planning processes, plans, programs, initiatives or site developments that will have real results.
“We had a great team leading this process,” said City Manager W. Patrick Pate. “I am not surprised that they were honored with these awards, but am honored that the Virginia APA has recognized their efforts in this manner. The Comprehensive Plan will benefit the City of Manassas well into the future as we continue to promote the historic and modern attributes of our community.”
In the first phase of Community Conversations in 2017, more than 400 citizens responded to questions at various pop-up sites, often posting colorful post-it notes to respond to questions on posters. In phase two in 2018, more than 250 people attended small group discussions at venues across the City, while 200 answered questions at pop-up events, and 500 visited an interactive website. The input gathered helped define a community-driven vision for the city’s strategic priorities and for the 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
Comprehensive Plan Update Subcommittee
The City’s Planning Commission created a Comprehensive Plan Update subcommittee, chaired by Elaine Trautwein, to help staff craft the 2040 Plan, which is required to be reviewed every five years. The Commission also hosted a series of Community Conversation discussions with citizens. RHI, a landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm, also helped to facilitate Community Conversation small group discussions.
The 2040 Comprehensive Plan was adopted by the Manassas City Council in February and may be viewed at manassascity.org/compplan. A new interactive version of the plan has also been created.
