Management Plan Components

Download  Click here to download Appendix A: Management Plan Components

Creating a detailed plan is an essential step towards successful public space management. But, what should a Management Plan contain? This Appendix presents a sample Management Plan outline, providing details about each key plan component. Community groups or other public space managers may use this outline as a starting point to create their own, customized management plans.

Note that Appendix B: Creating the Management Plan provides a number of ready-to-use templates for the items outlined here, such as service plans and budgets.

1. Overview of Public Space

A. Executive Summary

  • Project objectives, purpose for assuming public space management, and project goals should be clearly stated or put in a bulleted format.
  • The project sponsors should describe their role in relation to the public space, whether as landlord or property manager, neighborhood organization, adjacent or nearby businesses, or consortium of community members.
  • The project sponsor should identify how their project aligns with the main goals for the Pavement to Parks Program and the Plaza Program, including:
    • Foster development of and strengthen San Francisco’s vibrant communities
    • Improve the quality and diversity of public spaces
    • Adopt innovative approaches to public space management and stewardship
    • Work towards operational sustainability of public spaces and plazas
    • Encourage non-motorized modes of transportation
    • Support local economic development

B. Glossary of Terms

  • The Glossary of Terms establishes consistent definitions and vernacular throughout the Management Plan. Project sponsors should only include the relevant terms in their Management Plans. Please refer to page 15 of this guide for a sample Glossary of Terms.

2. Service and Activities Plan

A. Scope

The project sponsor shall address their proposed activities in four distinct components:

  • Maintenance services and operations personnel required to assume stewardship. This includes a description of the types of cleaning, safety, landscape maintenance, and hardscape maintenance activities to take place.
  • Programs, events, and activities that are to take place on site, including any marketing, promotion, or additional outreach that will be involved. If additional programmatic partners are involved, their roles should be described in relation to the project site. Lastly, estimate the frequency of events, whether weekly, monthly or a few times per year.
  • Funding and financing mechanisms use to help pay for the planned services. This information should describe how revenues and expenditures will benefit the proposed project site or area. It should also detail any planned capital improvements planned for the project site.
  • Description of management or stewardship staff involved with the project.

B. Service Frequency tables (see samples in Part 2 for examples)

  • Insert specified service frequency table of landscape services
  • Insert specified service frequency table of hardscape services

C. Role and Responsibilities of City and County Departments

  • SF Police
  • Public Works
  • RPD
  • SF Municipal Transportation Agency
  • San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

D. Supplemental services provided by other entities:

Project sponsors should reference the additional services provided by other entities to the project site. This can be a short narrative or bulleted list, but it should refer to a website or contact for more detailed information.

  • Professional management/maintenance/fundraising services
  • CBD/BID
  • Private property owners
  • Private businesses, companies, or utilities

E. MOUs from agencies to assist with the coordination of services

  • Include letters of support from City and County entities, or third party entities, to demonstrate an understanding of the role of the project sponsor.

3. Budget

A. Budget narrative

  • Detail the process in which funds will be raised, collected, monitored, and spent by the community steward. This should identify funding tools that will be used.

B. Source of revenues

  • Bullet the funding tools and planned fees that will be raised.

C. Planned expenditures

  • Using the budget templates on pages x-y, insert the planned budget and expenditures

D. Future costs

  • Loosely explain future costs for planned capital improvements.

4. Timeline and Meetings

A. Synopsis of community survey

B. Community meetings

  • List the community meetings held to date

C. Timeline

  • Describe timeline for permit process, additional community outreach, milestones in which community will assume stewardship of the project site

D. Proposed duration of stewardship of project site

5. About the Manager

This section provides information about the non-profit partner, steward, or sponsor organization serving as manager of the space.

A. Descriptive Sections

  • Statement of mission and goals
  • Current activities, programs, and responsibilities of nonprofit partner, steward, or sponsor
  • Current staff and board members
  • Organizational structure
  • 990 Forms (if relevant)
  • Financial statements