“Livability is the sum of the factors that add up to our quality of life in Frederick County. It is the ability to easily get where you’re going, to enjoy great parks, to benefit from great schools, to find support when you need it, to form bonds with your neighbors, to have access to excellent stores, restaurants, and entertainment, to have good jobs close to home, to enjoy the revitalizing qualities of our forests, rivers, mountains and countryside, and to be in harmony with the systems that surround, support and underlie our ability to live happy, healthy, long and prosperous lives. To preserve, sustain, and create livability, we must define and advance our shared values as they impact our built and natural environments, our community health, our economic prosperity, our social stability and equity, our education, and our cultural, entertainment and recreational opportunities. This is the central ambition of Livable Frederick.” (The Livable Frederick Master Plan, May 2019)
WHY IS THE LIVABLE FREDERICK MASTER PLAN IMPORTANT FOR OUR COMMUNITY?
Jessica Fitzwater: Livable Frederick is truly a one-of a-kind comprehensive plan. This is not a plan written to check a state-mandated box and sit on a shelf. Rather, this plan is a roadmap to take us on a journey towards our shared community vision of a unique and vibrant community where everyone can live, work and thrive while feeling a strong sense of place and belonging. Livable Frederick was developed with the community every step of the way and for it to be successful, we must operationalize the plan within County government and continue to engage our community partners throughout its implementation.
Deborah Carpenter: The Livable Frederick Master Plan is the community’s vision for Frederick County. It was written by the people for the people and will be implemented through the cooperation and continued support of the people. It was written by acknowledging where we are, visualizing where we want to be and devising a strategy for how to get there…Antoine de Saint-Exupery said ‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’. In Frederick County we aren’t just wishing for our vision to become reality. We’re planning for success.
Kimberly Gaines: …Livable Frederick is the community’s plan... People who care about the arts, the future of farming, the quality of our air and water, the safety of our roads for pedestrians and cyclists, the preservation of our history, housing affordability and many other important issues all contributed actionable items to the plan and now have an important role in the plan’s implementation.
WHAT IS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE PARTS OF THE LIVABLE FREDERICK MASTER PLAN?
Jessica: I love that this plan looks at land use decisions through the lenses of Our Health, Our Community, Our Economy and Our Environment...This framework recognizes that land use, preservation and development impact every aspect of the quality of our lives.
Deborah: Livable Frederick is not your traditional comprehensive plan. The County’s goals are decided by the community, but who decides the definition of ‘community’?...Livable Frederick intentionally stopped defining community by geography only. We stopped labeling people and their engagement opportunities by where they live and instead have recognized who they are, allowing them to engage across the whole spectrum of communities with which they identify...the whole premise of the plan is rooted in community, not geography...the plan is free to be flexible.
Kimberly: Livable Frederick goes beyond [Maryland State] requirements...particularly in the Our Health section of the plan. Goals and action items included address access to healthy food, prevention of violence, engagement of our senior population, access to affordable childcare and the provision of services to residents struggling with mental health and substance abuse issues.
HOW DOES THE LIVABLE FREDERICK MASTER PLAN HELP TO GUIDE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT INTO FREDERICK?
Deborah: The responsibility for achieving our collective community visions lies with all of us. Because the vision is so clearly defined, community members are encouraged to peruse the list of supporting initiatives, find the one that sparks their passions and engage with the entities that are pursuing the implementation of that initiative. Do your passions lie with the arts, helping seniors, ensuring everyone has access to transportation, maintaining quality open spaces, passing down cultural traditions, helping business startups, educating the youth, or any of a myriad of other interests? Chances are one of the over 600 supporting initiatives in the plan will be of interest.
Kimberly: Livable Frederick is a blueprint that identifies where farmland and natural lands will be protected, where growth will occur, and the shape that growth will take. Public investment in our rural areas to support private investment includes land preservation programs, reforestation programs, the County’s Rural Historic Preservation Grant Program, and the County’s Agricultural Innovation Grant Program. Public investment in our growth areas takes the form of libraries, schools, roads, parks, and trails for biking and walking. These amenities, and the sense of community that they foster, help make the places that have been designated for development attractive to employers and their employees.
WHAT DO YOU WANT READERS TO TAKEAWAY?
Jessica: I want people to know that this plan belongs to you—to the community.
Deborah: The vision of Frederick County as a vibrant and unique community where people live, work, and thrive while enjoying a strong sense of place and belonging…happens when we realize that we are all responsible for the outcome and are partners in protecting and advancing that vision.
Kimberly: By design, Livable Frederick is an accessible, user-friendly document that describes in everyday language the future the community desires and the actions needed to achieve that future.
“By design, Livable Frederick is an accessible, user-friendly document that describes in everyday language the future the community desires and the actions needed to achieve that future.”
FrederickCountyMD.gov
“It is the year 2040. Frederick County is a vibrant and unique community where people live, work and thrive while enjoying a strong sense of place and belonging.”- Vision Statement, Livable Frederick
