How Moorpark, CA used embedded documents to engage residents in updating its General Plan

In the 1980s, Moorpark, California, had a modest population of 4,000. Fast forward to 2019, and the city's population surged to over 36,000 residents. With such a dramatic demographic shift, it became evident that the original General Plan's goals and policies no longer aligned with the City's current identity and needs, requiring a significant overhaul.

Undertaking a comprehensive update for the first time since its inception in 1983, Moorpark embarked on a significant planning milestone to create a long-term strategic blueprint for the city. This newly adopted plan now serves as a long-term strategic blueprint for the City, encompassing a community vision along with specific goals and policies across all areas of the municipality. 

PROBLEM

A General Plan is a product of robust community engagement and input, reflecting the needs and aspirations of a City's diverse population. Traditionally, updating an important plan involved numerous in-person workshops and outreach programs, providing ample opportunities for residents to share their perspectives. 

To ensure that the project stayed on track and that the community's voice was heard, staff had to devise innovative methods to maintain meaningful engagement with the community despite the remote nature of the process.

SOLUTION

Each chapter of the City of Moorpark’s Draft General Plan was presented as one seamless experience embedded onto the General Plan’s project website.

By visiting Moorpark's official website for the General Plan update, stakeholders could navigate through each chapter and provide productive comments at specific points in each document without downloading files or writing emails. This made the promotion of the project simple as the process to participate was straightforward, and residents merely needed to click on the page to have their say.

"Delivering access to the planning materials in a fully interactive format natively within the City’s official project website provided an approachable outlet for learning and collaboration to the public."

- Doug Spondello, AICP, Deputy Community Development Director for the City of Moorpark, California

Throughout the commenting period, stakeholders wrote numerous specific comments within the context of the drafted plan which made the feedback easy to understand for staff who could quickly make use of the feedback received via revisions.

Once the commenting phase ended, staff were able to export an annotated PDF report for internal review and to memorialize the feedback provided in the context of the planning materials directly on their project website to add transparency to their process and build trust.
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IMPACT‍‍

“Konveio proved to be an invaluable tool for hosting our Draft General Plan and related materials online and soliciting feedback from the community. Given the number of comments we otherwise would have had to attend to individually I wouldn't be surprised if we saved 15+ hours of staff time.”

"Thanks to Konveio, we received dozens of responses from our community during the project, which we were able to manage effectively."

"The reporting of comments was exceptionally organized, allowing our team to quickly review and incorporate feedback, resulting in a more comprehensive and inclusive General Plan. Compared to conventional solutions, Konveio significantly saved the City time and enabled staff to maintain continuous engagement with the community, ensuring that the General Plan update progressed seamlessly.”

- Doug Spondello, AICP, Deputy Community Development Director for the City of Moorpark, California

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