The Sweden Comprehensive Plan Committee is currently working on an update. To assist in this task, a survey was sent out in 2021. View the results of the suvey below.
Because development has a dramatic and lasting effect, it is important that Sweden continue to plan, establish, and refine growth management policies so that its citizens may determine, and remain in control of, the Town’s future –so that desirable growth is accommodated while those qualities special to Sweden and its people are preserved. At the same time, the state requires periodic review and update of Comprehensive Plans. It is intended that these plans will provide a legal basis and rationale for any future ordinances or land use regulations that may be adopted by a town, as well as for all town governmental responsibilities and actions.
This second update of the Town of Sweden Comprehensive Plan is another major step in the ever-continuing planning process. In addition to being a periodic review/update of the 1988 Plan, it projects into the future and responds to new guidelines and criteria established by the State Planning Office. It is a compilation of information, analyses, policies, and strategies. It is not an ordinance or regulation in itself, but rather, a vision and set of foundation guidelines and goals for determining future development and direction for the town, its officials, and its ordinances. Specifically, the Comprehensive Plan:
- Provides an inventory/analysis/findings of town historical data, demographics, natural resources, land use, economics, and public facilities and services;
- Formulates town goals and policies that address the findings in each of the above areas;
- Sets forth specific strategies to implement each of the goals and policies, with corresponding timetables and responsible town officials;
- Includes a town-wide Land Use Plan, Regional Coordination Program, and Capital Investment Plan.
The town Selectmen appointed the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee of four Planning Board members and four residents-at-large in January 2001. Work commenced in February 2001 and was completed in October 2003. As in previous Comprehensive Plan and Zoning and Land Use Ordinance revision processes, the public’s opinions were acquired from a survey distributed in July 2001 to all residents and non-resident property owners as well as twice-monthly planning sessions and subsequent public hearings prior to approval.
As people’s needs change over time, town planning needs to be responsive. Therefore, it is important that comprehensive planning be a continuous process to monitor the long-range issues facing the town, and that the Town of Sweden Comprehensive Plan be periodically reviewed and updated as necessary.
