Plans
WHY DO WE PLAN?
Everybody plans. A business may plan for strategic action to help them remain profitable and to gain a competitive advantage. A citizen may make a financial plan to ensure their debts and obligations are paid and to ensure money is saved for an important purchase. Businesses, non-profit organizations, private citizens, and even governments all plan to organize our limited time and financial resources and to work toward our goals in a rational, step-by-step fashion. Through planning, we come to understand where we are now and what must be done to achieve our ultimate goals. For a government, planning should be a means of community decision making through public participation.
WINCHESTER’S PLANNING HISTORY
Historically, Winchester has actively planned since the creation of the Planning Commission in 1962, and several planning documents have been adopted over the years. A number of plans were prepared in the 1960’s and 1970’s; all are dated but provide a rich source of historical reference material for the City’s Community Development Program. These documents are retained for the use of present and future citizens of the community, including their leaders, to provide a window in time of local planning activities and the community development process. Some of these plans include:
- Land Use Plan, Parts 1-3, 1963-64
- Community Facilities Plan, 1964
- Winchester Downtown Story...Today...Tomorrow, 1966
- Neighborhood Analysis, 1967
- The Winchester Plan for Public Improvement, 1968
- Transportation Plan, 1968
- Parks, Recreation and Open Space Plan, 1969
- The Winchester Plan, 1971
- A Recreation Development Plan, 1971
- Community Facilities Plan, 1973
- Public Improvement Program and Capital Budget, 1974
- Winchester-Decherd Transportation Study, Volumes I-II, 1975 & 1977
- Boiling Fork Creek - Wagner Creek Basin 201 Wastewater Facilities Plan, Volumes 1-2, 1977
- The Franklin County, Cowan, Decherd and Winchester Housing Study, 1978
- Winchester Municipal Airport Master Plan, 1979
- Transportation Study-Existing Conditions, 1986
- Graphic Land Use Plan, 1993
- Urban Growth Boundary Report and Map, 2000
- Thoroughfare Evaluation and Transportation Plan, 2001
WINCHESTER DOWNTOWN MASTER PLAN
In 2007, Winchester was one of six cities across Tennessee selected for the Courthouse Square Revitalization Pilot Project Act. This created a tax rebate zone in a portion of downtown which generates a funding source for the revitalization of Downtown Winchester. The Winchester Downtown Program Corporation (WDPC) received spending and administration authority for these funds in 2008 to overcome limitations encountered by the City. That same year, the WDPC undertook a planning process, with the aid of consulting firm Looney Ricks Kiss, to guide the investment of these funds. This process resulted in the Winchester Downtown Master Plan which led the WDPC to begin a Façade Improvement Program in 2009 that remains ongoing today.
In January 2011, the WDPC approached the City of Winchester about developing design regulations within Downtown Winchester. Over the next few months, the WDPC and its consulting firm, Smith Gee Studios, worked closely with elected officials, city staff, and the State of Tennessee’s former Local Planning Assistance Office to develop regulations based upon the Winchester Downtown Master Plan. During this process, it was noted that though the Master Plan had been adopted by the WDPC to guide its efforts downtown, neither the City or the Planning Commission had adopted the document for the same purposes. Therefore, the three-year-old Master Plan was updated and submitted to the Winchester Municipal-Regional Planning Commission for its consideration. At the Planning Commission meeting held April 18, 2011, the Planning Commission reviewed the document and conditionally adopted the Master Plan subject to further minor modifications being made. The Planning Commission reviewed and approved the further modified document at its meeting of September 19, 2011.
The adopted Winchester Downtown Master Plan will now serve as the City’s guide for the development and revitalization of Downtown Winchester. The Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, and Design Review Commission will all utilize the Master Plan to supplement existing regulations and support their decisions relating to development applications in the downtown area.