Fairhope, Alabama thefairhopetimes.blogspot.com
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| Dickson presenting plan. |
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| New future land use map proposal. |
Baldwin County's planning department director Jay Dickson presented the draft of an updated master growth plan during a subcommittee meeting in Robertsdale Tuesday.
He called it a "guideline for smart growth" to deal with the county's rapid population growth (30% more every decade) -- that his department had been working on it for about a year at the direction of the county commission. Eighty-seven thousand more housing units will be needed by the year 2050, mostly in the south part of the county based on current projections, he said,
Out of three possible future growth scenarios studied (photo at very bottom), focused growth with the higher population densities nearest municipalities was the preferred strategy chosen.
FUTURE LAND USE MAP
Eight zones of land use are envisioned outside of municipalities: 1. Farmland Preservation; 2. Rural Preservation; 3. Conservation Buffers; 4. Rural Neighborhoods; 5. Highway Corridors; 6. Urban Growth; 7. Unincorporated Village Nodes; and 8. Regional Economic Opportunity zones.
COUNTY COMMISSION NEXT
The next step is for the planning commission and then the full county commission to consider the proposal during upcoming public meetings -- with a final approval hoped-for this fall.
Full documents will be made available to the public during that process.
Although required by state law, such master plans are non-regulatory, only guidelines to try to follow.
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| New plan presentation meeting. |
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| 3 growth scenarios. |