The Massachusetts Community Preservation Initiative is a statewide smart growth program that helps municipal officials and community leaders understand the potential effects of future growth. It provides tools, technical assistance, and outreach to encourage informed and balanced growth decisions.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs developed the Community Preservation Initiative (CPI) to create a constituency of residents and elected officials who support and implement smart growth. CPI's philosophy is that planning is not just for professionals and that all residents should play a role in shaping their collective future. CPI encourages communities to grow where infrastructure already exists, redevelop urban areas, and utilize density to offset pressures on open space.

Under CPI, the state provides tools to help communities see the effects of growth and make more informed choices. CPI created 351 buildout maps, one for each community in the state, to illustrate how a community is currently zoned and the quantity and location of land available for development. The maps have inspired many communities to change their bylaws and zoning to better support the type of growth they want to achieve and to enhance environmental protection.

An innovative aspect of CPI is the release of two software tools to help communities make informed choices. The Fiscal Impact Tool analyzes financial implications of development scenarios, and the Alternative Futures Tool enables a user to analyze a variety of buildout scenarios by altering zoning. Other highlights of CPI's outreach efforts include making presentations about the statewide Community Preservation Act (CPA), under which communities can adopt a surcharge on local property levies and receive up to a 100 percent state match, and creating a high quality Web site.

CPI partners include about 60 organizations representing affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space interests, who help educate the public about the CPA through workshops, conferences, and the Web. CPI also partners with state agencies, including the Department of Housing and Community Development, Executive Office of Transportation and Construction, and Department of Economic Development.

Copyright 2002 The American Institute of Architects. All rights reserved.