What is a General Plan 

You are in the process of moving to a new city and you are looking for residential subdivisions. You have been on a quest all day and finally when you were about to give up you stumble across a new subdivision. It is absolutely stunning! It is located right up on a mountain preserve and as a result has an amazing viewshed of the mountains, mature landscaping, and the cityscape in the far distance. You think this is it, this is what you have always wanted! However, there is this nagging thought in the back of your mind that says, “It is what you want now, but will this view always be here, and it is not surrounded by anything else yet, but what about in the future?” So you mumble to yourself yeah will it always be this secluded and beautiful?

These are great questions to ask yourself. But, more importantly you should be asking yourself what is the future of the city/county wherever you live or intend on living. You may ask well of course, but how does anyone know what the future holds for any place? Well, I definitely know and many planners are well aware of this, and you can be too. I am here to tell you that it isn’t some big secret. All the information for what is planned for a City is mapped out and spelled out for your curious little eyes to see. It is located in a document entitled “General Plan”. You can see it online by going to your city’s website or by going down to city hall and guess what counties and towns also have them. 

What is a General Plan

A general plan is a broad planning guideline that is filled with policies and goals associated with the future development of a city or county. To be specific, a general plan provides vision, goals, and policies that determine how a city will grow and develop in the present and well off into the future. When I mean future I mean as far as 50 years into the future it just depends on the jurisdiction and how far ahead they want to plan. But typically it can be between 20 to 50 years into the future. This timeframe is regularly referred to as horizon year. Please note that a General Plan can also be referred to as a comprehensive plan, land use plan, community master plan, or a master plan.

Why do we have a General Plan?

Many times a general plan is a required document by law. Many states have statutes that require municipalities (town, city, county) to adopt, update, and readopt their General Plans every ten years (You can check with your municipality to check when the next general plan update is to occur). Please note that under many state laws, subdivisions, capital improvements, development agreements, and many other land use actions must be consistent with a muncipality’s adopted general plan. 

 

Further, The purpose of the local comprehensive plan is to guide land use planning decisions, direct and coordinate efficient and orderly development of the local government and its environs that will, based on analysis of the present and future needs, best promote the public health, safety, morals and general welfare. Apart from the vision and goals for the city,, the document provides insight on the socioeconomic makeup of the population, land uses, spatial information, and estimated current and future estimated population growth. 

Difference Between the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance 

The real difference between the general plan and zoning ordinance are:

1. The general plan establishes the zoning ordinance and is almost like the blueprint for a municipality whereas zoning equates to the finite details needed to ensure the blueprint stays on course. 
2. The general plan supersedes zoning. General laws, zoning, specific plans, planned area developments are required to conform to the general plan. 
3. The general plan is a regulatory document that creates land uses and the zoning ordinance creates zoning districts that should comply with the general plan land use designation. 
4. A zoning ordinance provides specific regulations with regards to development standards (setbacks, lot coverage, floor area ratio, height, lot size, and density) for properties located in specific zoning districts. Whereas land use designations of the general plan provide broad characteristics for a property located within a specific land use designation. 
5. General plan is a comprehensive  land use planning is a public and democratic process that defines goals and objectives to achieve a community’s vision. Zoning ae used are rules that aid in maintaining the community’s vision. 

What is located in the General Plan

As stated above, a general plan is a long-range comprehensive plan that guides development; and this is done by addressing various elements such as land use, housing, growth areas, conservation, urban design, military and aviation, open space, circulation/transportation, fiscal public health, environmental planning, energy, etc. Below we will break down the standard sections and elements that are found in a general plan. 

Statement of Intent:

Is a statement of the overall purpose of the document, and it is where background information and history of the community is provided. 

Community Vision:

This is where recommendations and strategies for community development is announced. This includes recommendations for infrastructure, parks and community facilities, jobs and tax base growth, and community preservation. Additionally, this section describes the method on how the community came together to create these recommendations. Lastly, an action plan to execute the recommendations and provisions to monitor the action plan is presented.

Land Use: 

Designates the type, intensity, and general distribution of uses of land for housing, business, industry, open space, education, public buildings and grounds, waste disposal facilities, and other categories of public and private uses.

Circulation/Transportation: 

Correlates with the land use element and identifies the general location and extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares, transportation routes, terminals, and other local public utilities and facilities.

Housing:

Assesses current and projected housing needs for all economic segments of the community. In addition, the housing element embodies policies for providing adequate housing and includes action programs for that

purpose. By statute, the housing element must be updated every, five or eight years, according to a schedule set by the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

Conservation:

Addresses the conservation, development, and use of natural resources, including water, forests, soils, rivers, and mineral deposits.

Open Space:

Details plans and measures for the long–range preservation and conservation of open–space lands, including open space for the preservation of natural resources, the managed production of resources, agriculture, outdoor recreation, and public health and safety.

Noise:

Identifies and appraises noise problems within the community and forms the basis for land use distribution determinations.

Safety:

Establishes policies and programs to protect the community from risks associated with seismic, geologic, flood, and wildfire hazards, as well as from other concerns such as drought.

Environmental Justice:

Identifies objectives and policies to reduce pollution exposure, improve air quality, promote public facilities, improve food access, advance access to housing, and increase physical activity in identified disadvantaged communities.

Air Quality:

Establishes policies and programs to reduce impacts to air quality. Air quality considerations are also required for cities and counties who are required to include an environmental justice element in their general plans, and are optional elements in other areas of the state.

Conclusion

The general plan is a public document that will provide you with a magnitude of information about your community. So, whenever you need to know about current and future development proposed please do not hesitate to contact your city or county’s planning department to obtain a link or copy of the general plan. 

If you found this blog useful let me know by going to the next blog. If you have comments, questions and/or concerns please do not hesitate to contact the Friendly Neighborhood Planner.