Comprehensive Plans are required by state law to be used as a guide for decision-making about the natural and built environment. A Comprehensive Plan includes general town-wide policies on land use, transportation, housing, natural resources, economic development, and public facilities, including public parks, recreation, and trails. The Plan recommends how land should be used, but not when development will occur.
Carbondale’s 2022 Comprehensive Plan is an officially adopted document that establishes the Town's goals for the future and provides direction for decisions affecting the use and development of land, preservation of open space, transportation systems, partnerships with other organizations, economic growth, the expansion and maintenance of public facilities and services, and the relationship between land use patterns and fiscal policies. It combined the relevant Plan elements from the 2013 Comprehensive Plan and merged them with the revised and updated Plan elements as part of the 2022 comprehensive planning process; those updated elements include:
- Downtown Character
- Opportunity Area (formerly Downtown North)
- Climate Action Plan
- Aging in Community
- Multi-modal Mobility
- Residential Character
The Comprehensive Plan was developed through formal research, data collection, and the collection of community input through online surveys, community-wide events, and stakeholder meetings. The Planning and Zoning Commission served as the Project Steering Committee, and the Carbondale Board of Trustees reviewed and adopted the final plan.
Here is the current Comprehensive Plan adopted by the Board of Trustees in November 2022: