Recommendations

Phase 1 organized recommendations for each element into three goals and corresponding strategies. Similarly, Phase 2 will identify goals and strategies for housing, natural and cultural resources, open space and recreation, and community facilities and services.

Goals are statements of the community’s desired long-term direction. While often broadly written, goals must also be specific enough so that it is possible to assess whether progress has been made in achieving them and determine successful completion.

Strategies are statements that identify the community’s preferred actions in relation to the goals of each element. They represent “operational” actions that a community will undertake to meet its goals. Some of the strategies in a master plan may be existing policies and others can be newly created during the planning process.

Together, goals and strategies will reflect and support Salisbury's vision and the ambitions for the period covered by the plan. They will be informed by a robust community engagement process, soliciting input from Salisbury residents, to determine community values and goals and to identify patterns of development that will be consistent with these goals.

Implementation Program

The Implementation Program will compile the recommendations from all elements into a program of specific actions to be completed sequentially. It will identify any necessary regulatory changes, needed resources (such as funding, staff, or volunteers), lead responsibility, and priority ranking for each action.

For this Master Plan to be useful to Salisbury over the next ten years, the Town must ensure that it is actively utilized and updated as needed. A Master plan should be treated as an adaptable, responsive planning tool that may require adjusting as the Town’s priorities and needs evolve. Thus, while an implementation program brings all of the Plan’s recommendations into focus and organizes them into a plan of action, it is not absolute; rather, it provides a suggested framework for the Town to carry out identified goals and strategies in a flexible manner. An evaluation plan is built into the implementation program with mechanisms to assess progress, accomplishments, and barriers as implementation proceeds.