Tulsa Comprehensive Plan - PLANiTULSA

Next Steps and Plan Structure
SUCCESSFUL PLANNiNg
MEANS… PLANS
Next Steps and
Plan Structure
While a city such as Tulsa should be
commended for being forward thinking and
moving ahead so boldly, it can be confusing to
understand the various pieces of the planning
puzzle. Here are some definitions that will help:
ViSiON
• Core values and guiding principles
• Describes conceptual vision for the
future of Tulsa
POLiCy PLAN
• Policy framework for land use, economic
development, transportation, housing,
parks, and open space
• Adjusted every five to ten years
STrATEgiC iMPLEMENTATiON PLAN
• Action items for the city to pursue now
• Detailed plans for targeted
areas and city-wide initiatives
• Adjusted every year
MONiTOriNg PrOgrAM
• Establishes benchmarks and a program to
assess whether the goals of the vision and
the policy plan are being achieved
• Evaluated every year
PLANiTULSA sets the long-term ideas for
how the city should look, feel and function,
based on the expectations expressed by
thousands of Tulsans during the last two
years. The next phase is to develop the
policies and implementation steps that will
start moving the city toward that vision.
While the vision provides the long-term goals, a policy plan
would provide a framework for accomplishing these goals.
This plan would guide housing, economic development,
transportation, land use, parks, and open space policies and
decision-making processes. The comprehensive plan should
remain viable for 20 years or more with updates every five to
ten years to reflect changing conditions.
In addition to the long-term policy plan, the city will develop
a short-term strategic implementation plan that narrows the
focus by providing an outline of short-term actions to meet
goals and benchmarks established by the vision. Included
within the strategic implementation plan are detailed plans
for specific areas that can be pursued in the upcoming
year. However, the strategic implementation plan should be
reviewed and updated annually. This review should take an
inventory of current action items used to implement the plan,
consider any changed city priorities, and outline successes and
lessons learned from preceding activities.
Finally, the city will track its progress in achieving the
vision with a monitoring program. A monitoring program
uses citywide and local indicators, such as annual building
permits issued, miles of trails completed, or number of
homes within walking distance of transit, to measure
implementation performance of a plan. These indicators will
be published annually.
46 | TULSA ViSioN- July 2010