Land Use and Transportation

Land Use is coming!

Land Use is coming!

Many people that I have recently talked to, say 'Land Use' is a bad phrase and that there is gong to be a fight over land use in Florence County. Well, I hope that we will dispell all the 'bad' from this important tool to our residents.

Florence County is currently in the process of updating the Comprehensive Plan. This plan has a number of elements that direct the future of the County and includes such titles as Natural Resources, Economic, Community Facilities, Cultural Resources, Transportation and one that we are currently working on: Future Land Use.

All of the elements are designed to inventory what we know about the County for each of the above subjects. Then the challenge is to cram everything we want to do over the next 20 years as future goals and try to label an appropriate timeframe to complete them.

Luckily, every county in the State needs a comprehensive plan. However, every county is different; and Florence County is an exceptional example: the Future Land Use element of the Comprehensive Plan will help incorporate commercial, industrial, residential and public facility uses with transportation corridors and natural resource protection. One of our goals is to provide a land use plan that is sustainable, effective and that makes common sense.

Over the next few months, as we draft maps that show our first attempt at a land use picture, we will be meeting with municipal administration to see if there are any glaring anomalies to address before public meetings. We anticipate public meetings to further direct what our landscape will look like in the future before we present to plan to the Florence County Planning Commission.

So, what does the future land use plan do? Hopefully, it keeps residential land uses buffered from commercial and industrial uses. It keeps large industrial parks near major highways to facilitate heavy freight use. It will protect our water resources by allowing low density development along rivers and streams. In essence, it's a big picture plan for the future development of Florence County, and I think it's worth fighting for. I hope you do too.

Want to learn more? Return here for more news or e-mail me and tell me you want to be kept in the loop on Future Land Use! We'll put you on the e-mail list when we are in your town.