A master plan is the key to a fully functional property, a way of looking at your land as a whole, visualizing the relationships between various elements, and ultimately understanding how to realize its full potential. A conscientious and comprehensive planning effort is vital to your property’s long term environmental and economic success.
Why should you plan?
Based on a careful landscape inventory and analysis of the land coupled with a well thought out concept for the desired development or conservation program, a properly conceived master plan will illustrate all existing land uses and improvements and new programmatic elements as defined during the planning process. This design document will serve as a tool for the orderly and systematic implementation of short and long-term improvements to the land.
Know your property?
Before a master plan can be designed, a careful inventory of the land’s physiographic and man-made features takes into consideration the opportunities and constraints on your property. These may be determined by slope/terrain, soils, surface and subsurface hydrology, forest, wetland and vegetative cover, wildlife habitat, visual quality and other factors.
When is the best time to master plan a property?
The best time to prepare a master plan is before you initiate any changes that could potentially cost you more money in the long run. When utilizing a master plan, improvements on the property will not have to be undone in a few years to satisfy unforeseen needs. A construction phasing plan may also be valuable in outlining when certain property improvements will be designed in detail and implemented. Aside from your specific objectives, the phasing plan may include cost analyses and projections and consideration of factors such as budget, schedules, season, entitlements, maintenance and other issues.
What is your vision in 5, 10, 20 years?
Even if you are content with your property today, your needs will most likely change over time. A land planner will focus on what is important to you and your family and will help you organize the work so it is manageable and best fits your objectives, time frame and budget. Remember, your master plan is flexible. Reviewing it periodically will ensure that it still meets your goals.
In preparing your master plan, you should work with a firm which has a wealth of expertise and a long history of successful projects in this field and can help guide this planning process to best suit your objectives. Low impact development and sustainability are hallmarks of Field Sport Concepts’ philosophy and practice. Committed to designing environments of enduring quality and beauty, it is our belief that there is a tried and true relationship between good design and the creation of economic and social value.
For assistance with the planning of your property contact Field Sport Concepts at 434-979-3846 or email Robert McKee at rmckee@fieldsport.com. We would welcome your thoughts as well as the opportunity to work with you to prepare a master plan that suits you and your property best.