Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 110-12-1-.03

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through December 24, 2024

Rule 110-12-1-.03 - Plan Elements

This chapter provides guidance for completing each element of the comprehensive plan. Communities should refer to section 110-12-1-.02(1) of these rules or the Department's recertification schedule to determine which plan elements are required for their jurisdiction. For any of these plan elements, it is certainly acceptable and encouraged to draw from a previously prepared plan that addresses the guidance below into the comprehensive plan in lieu of preparing a new plan element. Each community is also encouraged to add optional elements to their comprehensive plan to address specific local needs (refer to the list of optional plan elements in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions).

(1)Community Goals. (Required for all local governments, updates at local discretion.) The purpose of the Community Goals element is to articulate a long-term strategy for creating the set of conditions judged, by the community, to be best suited to maximizing the collective wellbeing of its residents. The Community Goals element details the overarching concepts which should guide local day-to-day decision-making for five, ten, even twenty years into the future. As such, the Community Goals shall be developed through a very public process of involving community leaders and stakeholders. The Community Goals are intended to generate local pride and enthusiasm about the future of the community, thereby leading citizens and leadership to act to ensure that the plan is implemented. The result must be an easy-to-use document readily referenced by community leaders as they work toward achieving this desired future of the community. Regular update of the Community Goals is not required, although communities are encouraged to amend the goals whenever appropriate.

The Community Goals must include at least one or a combination of any of the four components listed below:

(a)General Vision Statement. Include a general statement that paints a picture of what the community desires to become, providing a complete description of the development patterns to be encouraged within the jurisdiction.

(b)List of Community Goals. Include a listing of the goals the community seeks to achieve. Review the suggested community goals in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions.

(c)Community Policies. Include any policies (such as,"New development will be encouraged to locate on in fill sites closer to town, whenever possible.") the local government selects to provide ongoing guidance and direction to local government officials for making decisions consistent with achieving the Community Goals. Refer to suggested policies listed in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions.

(d)Character Areas and Defining Narrative. This option lays out more specific goals for the future of the community by community sub-areas, districts, or neighborhoods, and may be prepared using the guidance provided for the Land Use Element at 110-12-1-.03(6)(a).

(2)Needs and Opportunities. (Required for all local governments, updates required every five years.) This is the locally agreed upon list of Needs and Opportunities the community intends to address. In contrast to the long-term focus of the Community Goals element, the Needs and Opportunities element conveys the relatively short-term imperatives which will require direct attention from the community in the following five years. The list must be developed by involving community stakeholders in carrying out a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) or similar analysis of the community. The community may opt to designate specific needs or opportunities as "high priority" indicating that they must be followed-up with corresponding implementation measures in the Community Work Program. The following resources may also be enlisted to help stakeholders identify local Needs and Opportunities:

(a)Supplemental Planning Recommendations. Review the list of typical needs and opportunities provided in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations and select those that are applicable for the community.

(b)Analysis of Data and Information. Check for potential needs and opportunities by reviewing and evaluating demographic, economic, housing, transportation and other data and information about the community. When evaluating this data and information, focus on:

· Whether it verifies needs or opportunities identified previously;

· Whether it uncovers new needs or opportunities not previously identified;

· Whether it indicates significant local trends that need to be considered in the planning process.

In order to ensure a concise and readable comprehensive plan, it is not recommended to include the data and information provided on the Department's website in your plan, nor is it required to include evaluations, data, or maps to substantiate or illustrate the identified needs or opportunities. However, if the community finds it worthwhile, it may include charts, graphs, and/or tables illustrating the data-points which are most critical to its planning process in an appendix to the plan.

(c)Analysis of Consistency with Quality Community Objectives. Evaluate the community's current policies, activities, and development patterns by comparing with the Department's Quality Community Objectives and the supporting Best Practices available on the Department's website. Use this analysis to identify any community needs and opportunities for adapting local activities, development patterns and implementation practices to the Quality Community Objectives.

(3)Community Work Program. (Required for all local governments, updates required every five years.) This element of the comprehensive plan lays out the specific activities the community plans to undertake during the five years following adoption of the plan as provided at section 110-12-1-.04(1)(j) to address its Needs and Opportunities while steadily moving toward the realization of its Community Goals. This includes any activities, initiatives, programs, ordinances, administrative systems (such as site plan review, design review, etc.) to be put in place to implement the plan. (Note that general policy statements should not be included in the Community Work Program, but instead should be included in the Community Goals element, perhaps in a section devoted specifically to Community Policies.) The Community Work Program must include the following information for each listed activity:

· Brief description of the activity;

· Timeframe for initiating and completing the activity;

· Responsible party for implementing the activity;

· Estimated cost (if any) of implementing the activity; and

· Funding source(s), if applicable.

(4)Broadband Services Element. (Required for all local governments, updates at local discretion.) Each local government must include in its Local Comprehensive Plan an action plan for the promotion of the deployment of broadband services by broadband service providers into unserved areas within its jurisdiction. The action plan must describe steps for the promotion of reasonable and cost-effective access to broadband to parts of the local government's jurisdiction designated by the Department as unserved areas. The local action plan required pursuant to this element may include, but shall not be limited to, any assessments, studies, ordinances, and/or goals to achieve certification as a Broadband Ready Community or designation of facilities and developments as Georgia Broadband Ready Community Sites. Each local comprehensive plan should contemplate and seek to implement this element in a manner which stresses the importance of broadband deployment across this state, and that broadband services should be considered as important as other necessary utilities.

(5)Capital Improvements Element. (Required for local governments that charge impact fees, optional but encouraged for all other local governments. Updates required every year.) For communities that charge development impact fees, a detailed Capital Improvements Element prepared to meet the Development Impact Fee Compliance Requirements (DCA Rules 110-12-2) is required. As such, it is not necessary to embed this element directly into the comprehensive plan document; however, it must be consistent with and reflective of the other components of the comprehensive plan.

(6)Economic Development Element. (Required for local governments included in Georgia Job Tax Credit Tier 1, optional but encouraged for all other local governments. Updates at local discretion.) Identify community goals, needs, and opportunities related to economic development and vitality of the community, and Community Work Program activities for addressing these needs and opportunities, considering such factors as diversity of the economic base, quality of the local labor force, effectiveness of local economic development agencies, programs and tools. The analysis produced for the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region or a similar local economic development plan may be substituted for this element's analytic requirements (and should be provided appropriate reference/citation); however, applicable community goals, needs and opportunities, and work program items, as provided in sections (1) through (3), above, must be explicitly integrated into the Local Comprehensive Plan.

(7)Land Use Element. (Required for local governments with zoning or equivalent land development regulations that are subject to the Zoning Procedures Law, optional but encouraged for all other local governments. Updates required every five years.) The Land Use Element, where required, must include at least one of the two components listed below:

(a)Character Areas Map and Defining Narrative. Identify and map the boundaries of existing or potential character areas (see definition in Chapter 110-12-1-.05) covering the entire community, including existing community sub-areas, districts, or neighborhoods. Refer to the list of recommended character areas provided in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions. Note that community improvement districts, tax allocation districts, Livable Centers Initiative planning areas, designated redevelopment areas and the like are good candidates for delineation as character areas.

For each identified character area, carefully define a specific vision or plan that includes the following information:

· Written description and pictures/illustrations that make it clear what types, forms, styles, and patterns of development are to be encouraged in the area. Refer to recommended development patterns listed in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions.

· Listing of specific land uses and/or (if appropriate for the jurisdiction) zoning categories to be allowed in the area.

· Identification of implementation measures to achieve the desired development patterns for the area, for example: more detailed sub-area planning, new or revised local development regulations, incentives, public investments, and infrastructure improvements. Refer to recommended plan implementation measures listed in the Supplemental Planning Recommendations for suggestions.

(b)Future Land Use Map and Narrative. Prepare a Future Land Use Map that uses conventional categories or classifications to depict the location (typically parcel by parcel) of specific future land uses. If this option is chosen, prepare the Future Land Use Map using either of the land use classification schemes described below and include a narrative that explains how to interpret the map and each land use category within the context of the community producing the plan.

1.Standard Categories. More detailed categories used by communities must be able to be grouped into one of the following industry-standard categories:

· Residential. The predominant use of land within the residential category is for single-family and multi-family dwelling units organized into general categories of net densities.

· Commercial. This category is for land dedicated to non-industrial business uses, including retail sales, office, service and entertainment facilities, organized into general categories of intensities. Commercial uses may be located as a single use in one building or grouped together in a shopping center or office building. Communities may elect to separate office uses from other commercial uses, such as retail, service or entertainment facilities.

·Industrial. This category is for land dedicated to manufacturing facilities, processing plants, factories, warehousing and wholesale trade facilities, mining or mineral extraction activities, or other similar uses.

· Public/Institutional. This category includes certain state, federal or local government uses, and institutional land uses. Government uses include government building complexes, police and fire stations, libraries, prisons, post offices, schools, military installations, etc. Examples of institutional land uses include colleges, churches, cemeteries, hospitals, etc. Do not include facilities that are publicly owned, but would be classified more accurately in another land use category. For example, include publicly owned parks and/or recreational facilities in the park/recreation/conservation category; include landfills in the industrial category; and include general office buildings containing government offices in the commercial category.

· Transportation/Communication/Utilities. This category includes such uses as major transportation routes, public transit stations, power generation plants, railroad facilities, radio towers, telephone switching stations, airports, port facilities or other similar uses.

· Park/Recreation/Conservation. This category is for land dedicated to active or passive recreational uses. These areas may be either publicly or privately owned and may include playgrounds, public parks, nature preserves, wildlife management areas, national forests, golf courses, recreation centers or similar uses.

· Agriculture/Forestry. This category is for land dedicated to farming (fields, lots, pastures, farmsteads, specialty farms, livestock production, etc.), agriculture, or commercial timber or pulpwood harvesting.

· Undeveloped/Vacant. This category is for lots or tracts of land that are served by typical urban public services (water, sewer, etc.) but have not been developed for a specific use or were developed for a specific use that has since been abandoned.

· Mixed Use. For a detailed, fine-grained mixed land use, or one in which land uses are more evenly balanced, mixed land use categories may be created and applied at the discretion of the community. If used, mixed land use categories must be clearly defined, including the types of land uses allowed, the percentage distribution among the mix of uses (or other objective measure of the combination), and the allowable density of each use.

(c)Land Based Classification Standards (LBCS). As an alternative to the standard classification system, local governments may, at their discretion, utilize the LBCS developed by the American Planning Association. The full implementation of this alternative system includes five dimensions to describe land uses, including activity, function, site development character, structural character, and ownership. Local governments electing to employ this system must at a minimum identify the function dimension of land uses in the analyses, assessments, mapping, and other land use requirements of this chapter.

(8)Transportation Element. (Required for the portions of a local government's jurisdiction that are included in a Metropolitan Planning Organization, optional but encouraged for all other local governments. Updates at local discretion.) The analysis provided in the Metropolitan Planning Organization's transportation strategy for the region or a similar local transportation plan may be substituted for this element's analytical requirements (and should be provided appropriate reference/citation); however, applicable community goals, needs and opportunities, and work program items, as provided in sections (1) through (3), above, must be explicitly integrated into the Local Comprehensive Plan. If, rather than using the analysis prepared in a separate plan, a new Transportation Element is prepared, it must include the following components:

(a) Evaluate the adequacy of the following major components of the local transportation system for serving needs of the community throughout the planning period:

· Road Network. Identify roads, highways and bridges. Also identify any significant issues with the road network, including connectivity, signalized intersections or inadequate signage.

· Alternative Modes. Identify bicycle, pedestrian facilities and public transportation or other services for populations without automobiles. Also identify areas of the community where mode choice is limited. Evaluate how effectively mobility needs of the community are met by these alternative transportation modes.

· Parking. Identify areas with insufficient parking or inadequate parking facilities (e.g., downtown, busy commercial areas), excess or obsolete surface parking facilities in need of retrofitting or redevelopment.

· Railroads, Trucking, Port Facilities and Airports. Identify freight and passenger rail lines, major rail intermodal facilities, non-rail freight operations, seaports, harbors, and commercial and general purpose air terminals. Evaluate the impact of these on the overall transportation network.

· Transportation and Land Use Connection. The transportation element should recognize that transportation policies, programs, and projects should be planned in alignment with local land use development policies. Future transportation investments should similarly be matched with appropriate land use policies.

(b) Develop a strategy for addressing any needs or opportunities identified above and integrate this strategy into the Local Comprehensive Plan's community goals, needs and opportunities and, community work, as provided in sections (1) through (3), above.

(9)Housing Element. (Required for Community Development Block Grant Entitlement Communities, optional but encouraged for all other local governments. Updates at local discretion.) Use the following factors to evaluate the adequacy and suitability of existing housing stock to serve current and future community needs. Factors to consider include: housing types and mix, condition and occupancy, local cost of housing, cost-burdened households in the community, jobs-housing balance, housing needs of special populations, and availability of housing options across the life cycle. The analysis provided in the Consolidated Plan or similar local housing plan may be substituted for this element element's analytical requirements (and should be provided appropriate reference/citation); however, applicable community goals, needs and opportunities, and work program items, as provided in sections (1) through (3), above, must be explicitly integrated into the Local Comprehensive Plan.

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 110-12-1-.03

O.C.G.A. § 50-8-7.1(b).

Original Rule entitled "Duties and Responsibilities" adopted. F. Mar. 21, 1997; eff. May 1, 1997, as specified by the Agency.

Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Dec. 31, 2001; eff. Feb. 1, 2002, as specified by the Agency.

Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Dec. 4, 2002; eff. Jan. 1, 2004, as specified by the Agency.

Repealed: New Rule entitled "Community Assessment" adopted. F. Apr. 7, 2005; eff. May 1, 2005, as specified by the Agency.

Repealed: New Rule entitled "Plan Elements" adopted. F. Nov. 13, 2012; eff. Dec. 3, 2012.

Repealed: New Rule of same title adopted. F. Feb. 6, 2014; eff. Mar. 1, 2014, as specified by the Agency.

Amended: F. Sep. 11, 2018; eff. Oct. 1, 2018.