Future Land Use Map Designation Changes

About Land Use Designations

The Comprehensive Plan's Future Land Use Map shows the Land Use designations for all property in the County. Land Use designations are used to determine what kind of growth will occur in the County and where. They are policy designations that help guide changes to, and the implementation of, development regulations. They help the County make long-term decisions about infrastructure, road improvements, and public facility locations. Land Use designations are also used when the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors consider certain kinds of development proposals, such as rezoning and special use permits. 

Applications to change Land Use designations were accepted during the process to update the County’s Comprehensive Plan. During the Engage 2045 update process, Planning staff reviewed 28 applications for land use designation changes. Of these 28, three were initiated by property owners and are noted in green on the map below. 24 were initiated by the County (either by staff as noted in blue on the map or by the Planning Commission Working Group members as noted in red on the map). One was initiated by the Board of Supervisors later in the process and was not included in the map below. During the update process, each of these applications was available for public review and comment through a comment feature in the mapping tool below. While the comment features are no longer active, the map below continues to show the applications that were reviewed, other than the application initiated by the Board. Note that decisions on these applications were made by the Board of Supervisors as part of its consideration and adoption process, and then reflected on the final Future Land Use Map.

Using the Mapping Tool

The top panel includes contact information if you have questions. The middle panel allows the user to click through the individual Land Use applications. Review the specific changes that were requested in the box located on the left. A map to the right shows the location of the requested change and can be zoomed in and out of using the “+” and “-“ features or with the scroll bar of your mouse. The bottom panel allows the user to scroll quickly through the applications. 

Public Engagement Summary for Land Use Designation Changes

The mapping tool above, and the comment feature it previously included, made up the Future Land Use Map Questionnaire which was part of the Round 3 public engagement effort. Other public engagement efforts related to the Future Land Use Map and the Land Use designations are described below.

Round 1 asked participants to provide input on how different “place types” should look and feel.  Participant input on these place-types was used to build two alternate future land use scenarios for Round 2.

Round 2 asked participants to compare the two scenarios from Round 1 and select their preferred land-use patterns between the scenarios. Participants also provided input on updating the comprehensive plan goals.

Round 3 built off the preferences for place types and future land patterns from prior rounds. The County gathered public input on specific applications for Land Use Designation changes. The County’s Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission Working Group, and staff reviewed this community feedback, as well as feedback from previous rounds, as they considered these applications for Land Use designation changes. 

Round 4 continued to accept public comment on Land Use Designation changes through to the adoption of the comprehensive plan by the Board of Supervisors.