LCRA's Community and Economic Development department helps communities create road maps for the future. LCRA staff has helped numerous communities prepare comprehensive plans to help manage growth.

Many communities don't have the resources, people or money to develop their own plans. LCRA staff works with officials and volunteers to develop detailed inventories of utilities, available land and other economic resources.

Not every community has the same needs. That's why LCRA offers several planning options:

• Strategic plans help communities draw up a blueprint for growth. Through planning, a community discovers what is needed to bolster its economy and its long-term strengths.

  The resulting strategic plan includes the group's vision, mission statement and goals. It also will set out the actions needed to reach the goals, including who will do the work, when they will do it and how much it will cost.

• Customized planning and training starts with traditional strategic planning and adds dynamic group and organizational issues such as team building, leadership development, consensus building, dispute resolution and physical planning.

• Comprehensive planning. A comprehensive plan starts with a strong public input process including mail surveys, town hall meetings and focus groups to determine the issues and priorities of a community's citizens. CED staff then works with a steering committee to craft a plan to address those priorities. A typical plan addresses issues such as housing, economic development, current and future land use, growth management, demographics, stormwater analysis and community development. This results in a detailed work plan that will guide community action to protect and enhance the quality of life for current and future residents.

The program is tailored to each organization depending on its critical issues and where it is in the strategic planning process.

For more information on these and other programs, contact Community and Economic Development.

To assist rural communities, LCRA has published the "Planning Handbook for Rural Texas Communities." The 83-page resource shows how a rural community can use planning to advance its interests, provides examples of Texas communities that have successfully implemented planning and lists related resources.

View an online version of the handbook. (This document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to view. Get a free reader.) For information on how to order a printed copy, contact ecodev@lcra.org. There may be a charge.