Measuring Success

Monitoring

Regular evaluation and monitoring will help ensure accountability for implementing Plan 2035. It will enable parties to understand the County’s progress towards meeting the Plan 2035 vision and assess the plan’s effectiveness. Parties include:

• County Administration and its Agencies
• County Council
• General Public
• Partner Organizations
• Planning Board

Annual monitoring will also allow the County to adapt, manage, and adjust Plan 2035 policies and strategies to stay current with demographic, economic, social, and environmental trends impacting Prince George’s County.

Evaluative Measures

Plan 2035 recommends a new way of measuring success and creates a structure for consistent data collection, regular reporting intervals, and integrated tracking across the County. Indicators to monitor success will be publicly reported on an annual basis. In order to consistently measure and track progress, the recommendation put forth in Plan 2035 is that the Planning Department assumes the lead in coordinating this county effort with dedicated personnel and resources.

Plan 2035 Annual Report Program Monitoring

The Plan 2035 Annual Report monitors the County’s progress in accomplishing the Plan 2035 vision and goals and builds on existing reporting requirements established in 2009 under the Smart, Green, and Growing Legislation. To assess state-level progress toward smart growth goals, this legislation requires local jurisdictions to track growth and development and report on:

• Development activity, including residential and non-residential subdivisions in process, as well as building and occupancy permits issued in and out of Priority Funding Areas (PFAs)
• Infrastructure projects completed in and out of PFAs
• Lands preserved through acquisitions and/or easements
• Ordinance and Master Plan Amendments approved for the calendar year
• Zoning map and text changes in and out of PFAs
• Changes in development capacity as a result of the above changes

Maryland Department of Planning

The Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) is charged with overseeing this process and has created a web-based tool to help streamline data collection from local jurisdictions. Prince George’s County already prepares this report annually and will expand its contents based on new Plan 2035 indicators (see Table 26). The report will continue to be submitted by the Planning Department to the Planning Board and County Council at the end of each fiscal year. 

In addition to the requirements of the MDP Annual Report, the Plan 2035 Annual Report should be expanded to include:

• The Planning Department’s work program for each fiscal year.
• Projects and policies, especially capital improvement projects that support implementation and alignment of priority strategies that implement the Plan 2035 vision.
• The status of various implementation measures and their progression towards achieving the plan goals.

Plan 2035 Five-Year Evaluation Performance Monitoring

The Five-Year Evaluation analyzes the County’s progress toward meeting the Plan 2035 vision and goals in five-year intervals. This evaluation - informed by previously submitted annual reports - will provide insight into the implementation of the plan’s longer-range policies and strategies and will gauge their alignment with local, regional, and national demographic, socioeconomic, and environmental trends. It will also identify completed priority strategies, programs, and projects. The evaluation’s findings may help inform minor plan amendments and modifications.