Area Planning

The Comprehensive Plan is developed in collaboration with community members, departments across the City, elected and appointed officials, partner agencies, and other community and regional partners to provide the highest policy level guidance for future development and redevelopment, infrastructure improvements and other public investments, transportation and land use connections, and a host of factors contributing to quality of life, affordability, equity and sustainability.

Strategic Plans direct specialized components of city and county planning such as transportation, economic development, parks and recreation, housing, natural resources and sustainability. Due to the shared governance between the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County for many service areas, it is important to align community-wide plans for both jurisdictions and ensure that they align with and support the vision, goals, policies, and place guidance in the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan and the guiding principles and strategies articulated in Livable Meck, the County’s road map for protecting and enriching our quality of life.

Strategic Plans build on the higher-level policy guidance and direction set in the Level 1 Comprehensive Plan and set more specific goals, objectives, policy direction and performance measures/metrics for a specific topic with consideration for the entire City or County. An example is the City’s Bicycle Master Plan (Charlotte BIKES).

Community Area Plans provide detailed strategies and recommendations regarding land use, built form, transportation, infrastructure, parks, recreation, open space, and facilities for sub-geographies of the City. The purpose of Community Area Plans is to engage and unite neighborhoods to plan their own communities within a framework that efficiently and effectively uses the resources available to ensure the entire City has neighborhood level input and guidance.

Community Area Planning is currently underway. To learn more about the project and how you can be engaged visit cltfuture2040.com

Specific Plans address smaller scale geographies and are focused on implementation. They should be guided by higher order plans but generally focus on further conceptualizing, planning and sometimes designing a specific small geography. Thus, the Functional/Action Plans and Community Area Plans typically provide the relevant guidance and direction for a single large property, a grouping of properties, or a Place. Examples of these types of plans include transit station area master plans, area reinvestment plans, campus plans, and corridor plans.