Volunteer with Mount Pleasant Cares Community
Our Framework for Smarter Growth
Mount Pleasant Cares believes the future of our town should be guided by the vision the community already created in the 2022 Envision Mount Pleasant Comprehensive Plan - not by piecemeal development decisions that ignore it. The Plan was built through public participation and was intended to serve as a long-term roadmap for preserving Mount Pleasant’s character, protecting natural resources, and aligning growth with the capacity of our neighborhoods and infrastructure. It specifically calls for mitigating flooding impacts, limiting the footprint of new development through smart growth, preserving important open space, and channeling appropriately scaled development into the hamlets where adequate infrastructure already exists.
Why the 2022 Plan Matters
The Comprehensive Plan already lays out a path forward. We are advocating for development decisions that follow that vision.
Protect Infrastructure Before Expanding Growth
Development should be aligned with what our roads, drainage, sewers, schools, and public services can realistically support - and should not move forward where infrastructure constraints are already known.
Address Flooding and Watershed Impacts
The Plan calls for mitigating flooding impacts and comprehensively evaluating stormwater management. That means looking beyond site-by-site engineering and addressing cumulative watershed impacts, runoff, steep slopes, wetlands, and downstream consequences.
Preserve Open Space and Limit the Footprint of Development
The Plan supports protecting vulnerable open spaces, limiting sprawl, and ensuring growth is appropriately scaled. We support development that respects those principles, not projects that undermine them.
Ensure Institutional Redevelopment Fits Surrounding Neighborhoods
For institutional properties like Cedar Knolls, the Plan states redevelopment should be consistent with neighborhood character, avoid significant adverse impacts, and not overburden municipal systems. We believe those standards should guide decision-making.
Turn the Plan Into Action
A plan only matters if it is implemented. We support updating zoning and environmental protections so the goals the Town adopted in 2022 become meaningful standards for future development.
What We Are Working Toward
- Responsible, appropriately scaled development
- Stronger protections for flooding, steep slopes, and wetlands
- Preservation of open space and neighborhood character
- Infrastructure-first planning
- Zoning and environmental rules that reflect the Town’s adopted vision
We are not asking the Town to invent a new vision. We are asking it to follow the one the community already adopted.