Comprehensive Plan

Table of Contents

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The comprehensive plan is a framework and guide for accomplishing a community’s aspirations and intentions. It states community goals and objectives and recommends courses of action for future growth and development of land, public facilities, and services and environmental protection. The comprehensive plan is also a powerful tool to help guide and identify strategies for smart shrinkage if communities face population declines or fiscal budget reductions. By incorporating hazard mitigation into its comprehensive plan, a community can align its future development decisions with an overarching goal of reducing disaster losses. Most comprehensive plans include a focus on protecting the safety of the people and property and supporting investments in the community. Hazard mitigation data and strategies are a key tool for accomplishing these shared goals. The comprehensive plan also guides the selection and implementation of other land-use planning tools, like those featured in this website, to accomplish the community’s vision. 

 

A comprehensive plan (often called “master plan,” “general plan,” or “community plan”) is a long-range planning document that expresses a community’s overarching vision, goals, objectives, policies, and strategies for the future growth (or smart shrinkage), development, and preservation of the community, protection of community assets, and provision of services. Comprehensive plans are used to:

  • Garner broad community input and determine development visions and goals;

  • Justify city decision-making, local regulations, and capital improvement projects;

  • Guide individual development approvals; and

  • Open new funding opportunities and grants.

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Hazard Mitigation: Integrating Best Practices into Planning 

American Planning Association – Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report 560

This report was the result of lengthy dialogue with APA and FEMA about the increased awareness of the linkages between planning and hazard mitigation principles. The primary author, James C. Schwab, AICP, walks through the various approaches to incorporate hazard mitigation into planning and policy mechanisms, provides background on the planner’s role in hazard mitigation, and discusses how to integrate hazards into several planning implementation tools. This valuable resource guide also explores several case studies throughout the country that are illustrative of the report’s recommendations.

Chapter 3 of the report is dedicated to integrating hazard mitigation throughout the comprehensive plan. In that chapter, Schwab articulates the importance of not only including a hazard element in the plan, but to identify throughout other elements how hazards are interrelated. The report makes recommendations for integrating hazard mitigation into the specific elements, including: future land use, conservation, public facilities and services, transportation, capital improvements, housing, historic preservation, economic development, recreation and open space, environment/natural resources, and implementation.

PAS 560 can be accessed here: https://planning-org-uploaded-media.s3.amazonaws.com/publication/book_paperback/PAS-Report-560.pdf​ 

Communities increasingly address sustainability, energy, climate, and resilience in their comprehensive plans. Home rule communities have broad authority to address these and many other subjects in their plans and regulations. Statutory communities also have authority to address hazard areas in master plans. Specifically, C.R.S. § 30-28-106 (for counties) and § 31-23-206 (for municipalities) requires planning commissions to consider “the areas containing steep slopes, geological hazards, endangered or threatened species, wetlands, floodplains, floodways, and flood risk zones, highly erodible land or unstable soils, and wildfire hazards” (House Bill 12-1317, 2012).

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Link the Comprehensive Plan and Local Hazard Mitigation Plan

A good place to start when folding hazards into the comprehensive plan is to review your local hazard mitigation plan. Under the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, local jurisdictions are required to develop hazard mitigation plans in order to gain eligibility for federal funding of mitigation projects. Local hazard mitigation plans are required (per C.R.F. 201.6) to both import information and data from a community’s planning framework and to export the results of mitigation plan into other community planning mechanisms. However, more often than not, hazard mitigation plans are disconnected from other local planning efforts. Yet, local hazard mitigation plans can include a wealth of information that is useful in the comprehensive planning process.

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Integrating hazard mitigation into a comprehensive plan can occur as a stand-alone section of the plan or integrated throughout as a consideration within all of the plan elements. In either strategy, incorporating hazard information into the future land use map ensures that future development and growth decisions are aligned with known hazard risks and vulnerability. 

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Address Hazards in Subarea Plans

Many communities prepare area-specific plans as a supplement to their jurisdiction-wide comprehensive plans. Subarea plans are geographically based and can be at various scales.  Subarea plans can include neighborhood plans, district plans, downtown plans, corridor plans, etc. Additionally, subarea plans are prepared for a variety of reasons. For example, a neighborhood plan might address housing issues, whereas a corridor plan might address mobility and economic development. Some area plans are created with the primary purpose of protecting environmentally-sensitive areas or to ensure appropriate hazard mitigation.

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Because the comprehensive plan serves as the overarching policy guidance document for the community, there are several advantages for developing a plan that integrates hazard mitigation:

  • The planning process typically involves a large audience, including the general public, interdepartmental staff, and other stakeholders from the community, allowing for increased public outreach and engagement on hazards.

  • The process typically looks at future land uses to determine what is best for the community. 

  • Compliance with the comprehensive plan is often tied to approval criteria for development applications.

  • It allows for integration of other policy documents that address hazards into one unified location.

  • The comprehensive planning process is an all-encompassing document; therefore, communities have to strike a balance between including policies related to every topic, and maintaining a user-friendly and concise document. 

  • Comprehensive plans must be updated periodically to match shifts in policy direction related to specific elements, including hazard mitigation.

Key Facts

Administrative Capacity

Planner lead, with support from other departments such as public works, parks, engineering, finance, emergency management, and others

Mapping

Some technical mapping and GIS analysis may be required for integrating hazard areas into the future land use map

Regulatory Requirements

None required, but can support plan implementation

Maintenance

Should be updated at a regular time interval, or sooner if conditions in the community warrant a change; if a hazard mitigation plan is submitted for FEMA approval, five-year updates are required

Adoption Required

Yes, typically adopted by the planning commission, and ratified by the elected body

Statutory Reference 

C.R.S. § 30-28-106 (counties)

C.R.S. § 30-28-106 (counties) C.R.S. § 31-23-206 (municipalities)

Associated Costs

Staff time, plus potential costs for mapping or other technical work, public outreach activities, and consultant services

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