What is a Comprehensive Plan?

A Comprehensive Plan provides a blueprint consisting of maps, policies, goals and objectives for how a community will grow in the future. These plans typically look 20-30 years in the future and incorporate a wide range of issues and questions relating to land use, including transportation, land use mix, parks and open space, community facilities, community character and identity, housing and neighborhoods, and economic development. Once adopted, elected and appointed officials of the County will use the Plan as a guide for their land use and public investment decisions.

How does the County’s Comprehensive Plan relate to the plans of individual communities within the County?

Idaho’s Local Planning Act (Idaho Code Title 67, Chapter 65) requires each jurisdiction within the state to create a comprehensive plan to promote the long term health, safety, environment, education, economy, and development in a manner that serves the best interests of the community. Each county and city in the state must complete this planning process. Where a city has an adopted Comprehensive Plan, the plan of the city is followed in the policy and land use decisions made by that jurisdiction rather than the plan of the county. Therefore, county Comprehensive Plans focus on planning future uses and policies for unincorporated areas and on collaborating with cities to align goals, policies, and land use decisions, particularly within a city’s Area of City Impact (see description, below) where a higher degree of intergovernmental coordination is needed.

What is an Area of City Impact?

The Area of City Impact, or ACI, is a special provision of the State’s Local Planning Act whereby a city and county may negotiate a boundary around a city that defines the area of potential future growth for that city. This boundary is defined according to three factors: trade area, geographic factors, and reasonable expectation of future annexation. The land and property within this ACI boundary remain in the unincorporated county and are subject to the county Comprehensive Plan and zoning ordinances. An intergovernmental agreement between the city and county establishes procedures for future development patterns, review, and annexation within the ACI.

How does the Comprehensive Plan relate to zoning?

The Land Use Plan map, a major component of the Comprehensive Plan, is not the same as County zoning regulations and districts and does not change existing zoning. Future zoning and re-zoning, however, will have to be consistent with the new Comprehensive Plan map once it is formally adopted by the County. The Land Use Plan map of the Comprehensive Plan is a “blueprint” for future development decisions and looks at the big picture of how land uses should be mixed and located. The Bannock County Zoning Ordinance is the tool that implements the Land Use Plan. It contains more specific guidelines for how development can happen in specific areas, or zoning districts. These standards regulate more specifically how an individual lot can be developed including: allowable uses, building heights, fire safety, number of parking spaces, landscaping, signs, and other variables of site design.

How long will it take to update the Comprehensive Plan?

The Comprehensive Plan update process began in the fall of 2006 and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2007. Public involvement is crucial to the development of the plan, particularly in assessing future goals, policies and land use alternatives. Public meeting dates, times, and locations will be posted on this web site and the County encourages all members of the public to attend. Before the updated Plan will become a formal policy document of the County, it will go before the County Planning and Development Commission and Board of County Commissioners for review, comment, and adoption. These hearings will also be open to the public.

Who Will Be Involved in Updating The Plan?

The Comprehensive Plan update will incorporate the feedback and input from a variety of sources, including:

• County elected and appointed officials,
• County department staff,
• State and federal agencies,
• Property owners and residents,
• Interested stakeholder groups,
• Business owners and ranchers/farmers, and
• Service providers (safety, water, sewer, energy, schools, etc).

There will be meetings throughout the process. Please read more under the How To Stay Involved section of this web site and check the Upcoming Events box on the main page for upcoming meetings.