Lowell Forward FAQ's

1.) What is the Lowell Forward Comprehensive Plan?

Lowell Forward is a planning tool known as a Comprehensive Plan. A comprehensive plan, also known as a master plan, is a document that provides a strategic roadmap for a city’s growth and development. A Comprehensive Plan will help us to shape and create a shared vision, values and goals for Lowell and outline an implementation framework for how we can achieve them. 

Lowell Forward will become an important communication tool and guiding document helping City Staff and elected officials with future decision making, as well as a gateway for other communities to learn about who we are and what we envision for Lowell in the next 20 years. 

2.) What is a Comprehensive Plan in Massachusetts? 

Comprehensive Plans are required by Massachusetts General Laws (Chapter 41, Section 81D) and must include topics such as land use, housing, economic opportunity, natural and cultural resources, open space and recreation, services and facilities, and transportation and mobility, as well as a goals and policies statement, and implementation program. 

Within this general framework, there is plenty of room for a comprehensive plan to be carefully designed to fit individual needs and desires of a given community.

3.) Why plan now?

A wave of changes in the decade since the publication of Lowell’s current Comprehensive Plan, Sustainable Lowell 2025, has prompted the City to prioritize the creation of an updated Plan, Lowell Forward. 

Lowell Forward aims to shift discourse away from static ideals of sustainability (sustaining or maintaining things as they are) toward more dynamic ambitions of resiliency (the ability to survive, adapt, and grow in the face of change). Lowell Forward will build on past successes, connect current existing planning initiatives, and integrate a present-day vision from the community into a comprehensive framework to guide growth and change in the City for the next 20 years. 

4.) What can’t the Comprehensive Plan do or address?

Comprehensive plans like the Lowell Forward are not meant to be a granular study of every issue, but a framework plan that sets the City up to conduct further studies that go into more detail on specific topics or focus on smaller areas. 

Lowell Forward will not:

Include a zoning rewrite, but it can include recommendations for change.

Generate detailed topic-area or place-specific plans, but it can identify, create the framework and guidelines for future initiatives

Decide exactly how local resources will be spent, but it can provide a basis for future decision-making

5.) How does the Lowell Forward initiative relate to the City’s other planning efforts?

There is already a wide array of planning work completed or underway in Lowell, including studies on transit oriented development and open space planning. The citywide plan will knit together those efforts under a comprehensive framework while offering additional ideas for the future of our city. The outcome of the process will be a coordinated road map that ties all of these components together.

6.)  What topics will Lowell Forward address? 

Lowell Forward will explore topics such as land use, housing, economic opportunity, natural and cultural resources, open space and recreation, services and facilities, and transportation and mobility. As we continue to engage the community and analyze existing conditions in Lowell, we anticipate that certain topics will come to the forefront and that additional topics of interest may arise.

7.) What is the timeline for this process?

Lowell Forward is planned to be an 18 month-long process guided by equitable community engagement. We anticipate the structure of this conversation and community engagement process will grow and unfold over the next year. Stay tuned and follow along on our website for updates!

8.) How can I get involved?

Thanks for your interest! Check out the Get Involved section, or the Events section. Check back often for plan updates, announcements, upcoming events, and opportunities to participate!

9.) Who is part of the planning team?

The City of Lowell’s Planning and Development Department (DPD) is working with an interdisciplinary team of consultants, led by planning firm, Utile. The consultant team includes:

Utile (Urban Planning and Design, Community Engagement)

HR&A (Housing and Economic Development)

Rivera Consulting (Equity and Engagement) 

MAPA (Translations & Interpretations)

Nelson Nygaard (Transportation Planning)

Brown, Richardson + Rowe (Open Space & Natural Resources)

Tetra Tech (Infrastructure and Public Facilities)

Community Organizer (support Community Engagement) 

Check out the Planning Team section to learn more about the city staff, planners, researchers, designers, and other team members working to push Lowell Forward.