Future Land Use Planning

Overview:

The Future Land Use Plan is the main component of the Land Use Chapter of the County's General Plan, which provides guidance for elected officials when making decisions regarding land use policies and zoning for years to come. The 2030 General Plan, adopted in 2022, provided a start to a comprehensive update to the 2012 Land Use Element, but was not finalized by the time the General Plan update was adotped. This Chapter was left unfinished with many gaps, including one of the most important elements, being the Future Land Use Plan (FLUP) and the Future Land Use Map (FLUM), which was carried over from the 2012 General Plan and is inconsistent with the language in the current Land Use Chapter.

The current effort to develop a robust, comprehensive Future Land Use Plan, incolves taking a hard look at the County's current zoning, as compared to what’s existing on the ground today, and what the needs of the community are, in terms of housing, transportation, and socio-economic opportunities. The planning process must balance the values and concerns of residents with many variables, including levels of service, transportation network, resource capacity to support buildout, and land use constraints. This update represents the vision for how the County will develop over the next 20-30 years.

Making Progress:

In 2022, a consultant was hired to conduct a Future Land Use Analysis. That study looked at Levels of Service throughout the County and various development scenarios based on existing commercial services, transportation infrastructure, and water demand, etc.. at a high level. The final report provided the foundation for the current 2030 General Plan Land Use Chapter, but it did not go as far as providing a Future Land Use Plan or an updated Map. Since then, the Planning & Zoning Department has worked in-house to develop the FLUP, which to date has produced the following items:

1. Land Use Inventory: a map that illustrates what is currently on the ground in the unincorporated areas of Moab and Spanish Valley (in Grand County). This map shows residential densities existing today (which may or may not align with current zoning) as well as various existing commercial uses, public facilties, parks/ag/open space, etc. Coming soon: planning staff is using the Land Use Inventory to develop maps showing underdeveloped residential areas and underdeveloped commercial parcels -- this will help inform where future development potential exists.
2. Build Out Study: The build out study analyzes the development potential with current zoning. It projects the number of residential units and commercial square footage yet to built out, based on existing development and current entitlements.
3. Draft Future Land Use Designations: The original draft future land use designations that had been used in the public workshops has since evolved based on feedback and planning sessions with the land use steering committee. The most recent version is provided here.
   
4. Public Engagement: beginning in the Fall of 2022, and lasting through the summer of 2023, planning staff conducted a series of workshops and created an online questionnaire for residents to provide feedback on future development in the County. Additional information and results of the public input process is provided below.
   
5. Draft Future Land Use Scenarios for purposes of gathering public feedback. The two Future Land Use Scenarios (Scenario A & Scenario B) were developed with feedback from a series of workshops held in 2022 and 2023. The questionnaire queried the public on preferences for how increased residential density could be distributed throughout the Valley.
6. Draft Guiding Principles for the Future Land Use Plan: Throughout the planning process thus far, we've developed 10 guiding principles for Future Land Use in the Valley.

Beginning in April 2024, the Planning & Zoning Department will be working with a new consultant firm to finalize the Land Use Chapter and Future Land Use Plan. In the Fall of 2024 (dates TBD), we will hold a series of open houses to present the near to Final versions of the Future Land Use Plan and Map to the public for additional feedback.

Previous Public Workshops:

On Wednesday, June 7th 2023, the Planning & Zoning Department held a workshop at Old City Park to discuss commercial development in the Future Land Use Plan. This workshop focused on what types of commercial uses may be appropriate in the South Moab/Spanish Valley area, and where these uses should be located. The results of the mapping exercise are shown below.

On April 26th 2023, Planning & Zoning held a public workshop at the MARC from 5:30 - 7:30 PM to discuss where residential density may be increased in the Future Land Use Map. Attendees reviewed and provided feedback on two potential Future Land Use Map Scenarios (available to the right), and participated in a mapping exercise to determine where multi-family development may be encouraged in the future. Results of the mapping exercise are available below:

In March 2023, the Land Use Steering Committee, made up of representatives from the County Departments or partner agencies, including the Roads Department, Grand Water and Sewer Service Agency, Building Department, County Commission, and Planning Commission, participated in a mapping exercise to collect feedback on where land use designations may be located in the future. The results of this exercise are shown below and are one tool being used to create the Future Land Use Map.

Three other public workshops were held between September 27 - 29, 2022 to gather input from citizens on land use preferences, community values and concerns. The results of the Values and Concerns exercise from the workshops are summarized in a "word cloud" in the section to the right. The more a word was mentioned in the exercise, the larger it appears in the image.

The Mapping Exercise provides us with location-specific information to better understand land use preferences on the ground – the results of this exercise must be balanced with planning constraints, such as levels of service, flooding and natural drainage, transportation, existing land uses that may be incompatible, and various other factors that come into play when thinking about Land Use, community and development. Pictured below is a map of the cumulative results from the workshops South Moab/Spanish Valley as well as Thompson Springs Mapping exercises, where each colored circle represents a land use suggested by participants. These maps will be updated as more public input is received.

Timeline 2024:

Please check back in over the next several weeks as we work to process all of the information gathered at these workshops in addition to online feedback received. If you'd like to receive an email update about the Future Land Use Plan, please use the feedback form below to submit your email address.