Posted on October 28, 2022 at 7:34 AM by Allison Duncan
”Coordinated and comprehensive planning by all levels of government within the State of Georgia is of vital importance to the State and its citizens. The State has an essential public interest in promoting developing sustaining and assisting coordinated and comprehensive planning by all levels of government.”*
The 1989 Georgia Planning Act identified comprehensive planning as essential to protection of the public health, safety and welfare. In doing so, it inextricably linked planning and zoning in many communities. After the 1975 Plan, Douglas County completed some updates in 1979 and 1986. With the passage of the Planning Act, the County undertook an update to the 1986 Plan in 1989. The 1994 Comprehensive Plan would be developed according to the prescribed Rules by the Department of Community Affairs that would uniformly capture a variety of elements of community development for cities and counties across the State.
The 1994 Douglas County Comprehensive Plan was substantially based on these new standards in the Georgia Planning Act. It has been the foundation for much of our core land planning efforts through to this current plan update underway now. The key provisions of the 1994 plan are worth a closer look and will be explored in a longer post. But it is important to note that one of the things that makes Georgia unique among its peers is this mandate that all cities and counties must undertake coordinated comprehensive planning as an essential service to the public interest.
Source: O.C.G.A. 45-12-200, et seq., and 50-8-1, et seq. accessed from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs