This fall, the Orange County Commissioners are scheduled to approve a new Comprehensive Plan; the first such vote in nearly thirty years! If you work, live or own land in Orange County, the Plan affects you; it sets a vision for how the county will develop over the next 20 years. Please take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the future of Orange County by voicing your interests and concerns to the Orange County Planning Board and County Commissioners.
Once adopted, the new Comprehensive Plan will begin to impact decisions about our tax base, the kind of jobs and housing created in the county, where new development will occur, what that development will look like, and how we will move about the county.
The draft Comprehensive Plan expresses a desire that growth be sustainable, but Orange County needs to hear from the public about how sustainability should be put into practice. For example, if you think Orange County needs more public transportation options or more mixed-use developments, let them know!
Public comments received this summer will have the most impact. There are two main ways to provide input: 1) submit written comments to the Planning Board before their next regular meeting on July 9 and 2) attend the August 25 Public Hearing and address the County Commissioners directly.
Written comments may be sent via email (CompPlanUpdate@co.orange.nc.us). Comments received after July 9 but before August 13 will be seen by the County Commissioners and Planning Board before the August 25 Public Hearing.
The Comprehensive Plan guides the policy framework for a wide range of issues including land use, transportation, economic development, housing, energy conservation and production, and environmental protection. The County maintains a website for the Comprehensive Plan update. The draft plan is available in its entirety here (warning: large file!). To view specific sections of the draft plan, click on the links below.
- Table of Contents
- Plan Overview
- Commissioners’ Planning Principles
- Economic Development Element
- Housing Element Land Use Element
- Natural and Cultural Systems Element
- Parks and Recreation Element
- Services and Facilities Element
- Transportation Element
- Appendices
This message is brought to you by the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition, a group of 9 local organizations that joined together to monitor and give input on the Comprehensive Plan update. At our website, you can find our Vision Statement, the written comments we've submitted to date, and a list of participating groups.
Our work is made possible in part by generous support from the Strowd Roses Foundation. Throughout this summer, the Coalition will provide public education about the Comprehensive Plan at several community events. To be notified of these events, please email cpufeedback@gmail.com or call Rita Leadem at (919) 923-2535. Thank you for your interest in the future of Orange County!
Issues:
Comments
Horse at the water.......
All right, I admit it, I've not laid a finger or eyeball on the proposed OCCP. The thought of reading any of it sent waves of ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's to my countenance. Thanks for providing such easy access to it, Allan, I clicked on the Transportation Element and tried it out.
Whew. Written by planners, for planners.
Sustainability? I have never read a discussion or definition of this concept that has ever made me understand what sustainability is or how it would realistically work.
I think it's very important for the County to plan and for the maximum amount of participation by those who will bear the consequences. It looks like the County is putting on a tremendous effort to get the plan out, to have it considered, and to obtain feedback in various modes. I'd say A+ for effort.
How can we, as Roland Giduz used to say the great unwashed, digest this process and product? Has a plan ever mattered? Has it ever been taken off the shelf when decisions were to be made?
I participated eons ago in the movement of a comprehensive plan to policies, regulations, stipulations and applications. How long did the objectives survive? How soon were the good ideas abandoned? Who cares?
The most respect you have to have is for the ability of a plan to be a living document, make sense, be dynamic, and measure results.
In transportation I predict that rail will rise again and maybe this time the connections to Orange will be up front and supported. Sprawl is doomed; more pavement will not work; put a tram down the middle of our roads and neighborhood streets; somebody go to those hearings.
Thanks, Allan!!