Comprehensive Plan Update Begins!

The update of the City’s Comprehensive Plan is beginning this month, starting with the Land Use & Infrastructure Element. Each of the six elements featured in the City Blueprint plan will be studied more thoroughly to establish concrete objectives and policies to support the community’s vision. By state law, the Municipal Planning Commission is given the task of preparing and maintaining the comprehensive plan for long-range physical development of the city.

1. Land Use & Infrastructure
2. Transportation & Mobility Element
3. Recreation & Natural Assets       
4. Housing & Healthy Neighborhoods
5. Economic Vitality & Sustainable
6. Livability & Community Vibrancy

The Land Use & Infrastructure Element will guide potential growth and development over the next 20 years. The update will be conducted in a series of work sessions with the full Planning Commission in order to explore growth concepts, and then a series of events designed to include community participation before the plan is drafted. The completed plan for the Land Use Element will include:

1. An inventory of existing land use and infrastructure conditions and supporting data,
2. Analysis of data to identify needs, opportunities and constraints
3. Comparison of growth scenarios (such as low-density infill, compact nodes, conserved open space, etc.)
4. A ‘Plan for Growth and Change’ (dynamic approach vs. the more static ‘Land Use Plan’), including descriptive characteristics of development envisioned in Oak Ridge, and new citywide policies to guide implementation.

The Land Use process is currently scheduled to occur over the next six months, and the entire Comp Plan update is expected to take two years.