Local Comprehensive Plan Update

Local Comprehensive Plan

A Local Comprehensive Plan (LCP), often called a Master Plan, tells a community what it looks like today and where it wants to go in the future. It includes: assessments of existing resources and issues, projections of future conditions and needs, and consideration of collective goals and desires. We are updating the current plan, approved in 2000, and expect the new plan to be finalized by Spring/Summer 2021.

The Local Comprehensive Planning (LCP) process begins with establishing our vision and goals for where we want Provincetown to be in the next 10 to 20 years.

The Local Comprehensive Plan Committee will take the lead in developing the LCP for Provincetown, placing the required elements within a sustainable framework. We welcome volunteers and input from the community. For more information, email Thaddeus Soule, Town Planner.

What is a Local Comprehensive Plan?

The LCP establishes guidelines and a vision for the future growth and the direction of the community; specifically, an LCP can provide the Town with a planning framework for development regulations, capital facilities and infrastructure necessary to address future growth and resource protection. Cape Cod Commission review and certification of an LCP aligns regional and local goals. The LCP expresses the community’s values as targeted actions. 

The Provincetown LCP will be developed using other municipal planning documents and initiatives. It is NOT a zoning by-law, a subdivision regulation, a budget, a capital improvement program, or other regulatory document. It IS meant to be the framework for the preparation or revision of these documents.

Required Elements of a Local Comprehensive Plan

The LCP must be consistent with the Regional Policy Plan and contain the following sections, according to the regulations adopted under Sections 4 and 9 of the Cape Cod Commission Act, Chapter 716 of the Acts of 1989. Progress has been delayed by Covid 19, but the Committee will continue to meet remotely to draft the plan, including:

• Vision Statement 
• Existing Conditions
• Goals
  • Land Use, Historic Preservation, and Community Character
  • Economic Development
  • Transportation
  • Public Health and Emergency Preparedness
  • Natural Resources, Open Space, and Recreation
• Capital Facilities Plan
• Housing Plan
• Targeted Action Plan and Schedule

Building on Past Plans & Studies

The LCP is closely integrated with other municipal documents and initiatives and recently developed plans including:

• Local Comprehensive Plan, Approved 2000
• Provincetown 365: Final DART Report
• 2016 Visioning Survey Responses
• Open Space and Recreation Plan
• Shank Painter Pond Wildlife Sanctuary Management Plan
• Old Colony Multi-Use Nature Trail Conceptual Plan
• Waterfront Loop Beach Trail Plan
• Vulnerability Assessment
• Provincetown Through the Eyes of Climate Resilience
• Inundations Pathways by Mark Borrelli
• Hazard Mitigation Plan 2016
• Hazard Mitigation Plan 2021
• Coastal Resiliancy - Climate Adaptation Planning for Provincetown's Historic District - Tufts 2021
• Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Webpage
• Harbor Management Plan
• Provincetown Harbor Plan (PDF)
• Parking and Circulation Study
• Shank Painter Road Corridor Study 2012
• Technical Assistance Panel (TAP) Report 2016
• Outer Cape Bicycle Report by Cape Cod Commission
• MacMillan Pier Transportation Center Feasibility Study
• Stellwagen Visitor Information Center Feasibility Study
• Community Development Action Plan 2019
• UMASS Housing Needs Study
• Housing Action Plan
• Housing Strategies 2019
• Housing Playbook 2016
• Sewer Survey Findings - DRAFT
• Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel Report
• UMASS Baseline Assessment of Economic Conditions
• Cultural Experience Streetscape Study
• Mass Historical 1985 Reconnaissance Survey
• National Register of Historic Places - Provincetown Historic District
• Growth Management Report 2021