Envisioning a 21st Century Brockton

Brockton will:
  • Be a community with an economically strong, fully developed, mixed use Downtown and commercial districts fully adapted to the 21st century, connected by well-developed and designed corridors reaching into the neighborhoods and out to the region.
  • Have stable and safe neighborhoods that offer the benefits of a high quality housing choices, an environment geared to families which provides easy access to the services and amenities that residents need.
  • Be an incubator for new entrepreneurial businesses and job creation, while retaining our important existing base of businesses and employment through innovative changes to the commercial, industrial, and mixed-use areas of the City.
  • Fully leverage our rail connections to invite Transit Oriented Development that will provide the benefits of housing and employment in compact areas around the stations.
  • Provide increased housing choices for our residents including with range of types and densities suited to the changing needs of the middle class and its young adults, families, and residents who will age in place in Brockton.
  • Update and improve the municipal facilities including our schools that provide a key building block for the future of our children and our entire community.
  • Provide a surprising range of cultural resources and events celebrating the diversity of our population and their interests.
  • Have restored parks and expanded recreation facilities that increasingly attract and serve our residents because they are attractive places offering a range of activities.
  • Provide convenient transportation choices that increasingly emphasizes transit, walking and bicycling while reducing unnecessary traffic congestion on our streets and roads.
  • Upgrade utilities to the stage for 21st century prosperity and efficiency, replacing outmoded and outdated components of our systems.
  • Have a growing network of committees, organizations and City leadership working together to advance our community.

Overarching Objectives

This Blueprint for Brockton has four clear objectives that need to be achieved to best advance its vision.  These objectives link all the Plan’s elements and recommendations. Expressed as overarching themes for the next stages of Brockton’s planning and development, they can be considered keys for the future.

History

The Department of Planning and Economic Development has been working on a city-wide comprehensive planning effort with the goal of increasing the pride we have in our community and its assets and creating a framework for our City to thrive as a prosperous, livable, and inclusive community that is poised to capitalize on opportunities for growth and economic development. That Plan is called “A Blueprint for Brockton”.

The last Comprehensive Plan was published in 1996. Since then, Brockton has undergone significantly population and socio/economic changes. This new plan incorporates these changes and better represent the goals and aspirations of our community.

Among our first steps was to appoint a Leadership Team to help drive the conversation and engage the community. We have hosted community events where we received feedback from residents and stakeholders that have been incorporated into the Plan. We have published trend reports and provide articles of interest on the Planning Department's website. "A Blueprint for Brockton" was adopted by the Planning Board in August of 2017.

About Comprehensive Plans:

Massachusetts law requires cities and towns to prepare a Comprehensive Plan every five years. The Plans are to include the following sections:

  • Land Use: identifies present land use and designates the proposed distribution, location and inter-relationship of public and private land uses in the future. The plan will identify the proposed standards of population density and building intensity to the capacity of land available or planned facilities and services.
  • Housing: identifies and analyzes existing and forecasted housing needs and objectives including programs for the preservation, improvement and development of housing for all income levels.
  • Economic Development: identifies policies and strategies for the expansion or stabilization of the local economic base and the promotion of employment opportunities.
  • Natural and Cultural Resources: an inventory of the significant natural, cultural and historic resource areas of the municipality, and policies and strategies for the protection and management of such areas.
  • Open Space and Recreation: an inventory of recreational and resources and open space areas of the municipality, and policies and strategies for the management and protection of such resources and areas.
  • Services and Facilities: identifies and analyzes existing and forecasted needs for facilities and services used by the public.
  • Infrastructure and Utilities: provides information of the existing utility and infrastructure services.
  • Transportation (Circulation): an inventory of existing and proposed circulation and transportation systems.

As part of “A Blueprint of Brockton” there is an Implementation Plan that defines and schedules the specific municipal actions necessary to achieve the objectives of each element of the Comprehensive Plan. Scheduled expansion or replacement of public facilities or circulation system components and the anticipated costs and revenues associated with accomplishment of such activities shall be detailed in this element.

Master Plan Implementation Matrix

This element shall specify the process by which the municipality’s regulatory structures shall be amended so as to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where Can I Send Comments?
  • Electronically: You may send comments via e-mail to: [email protected]
  • In Person: Planning Department, 3rd Floor City Hall, 45 School St, Brockton MA 02301, 508.580.7113
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