Lillington's Comprehensive Land Use Plan

One of the major projects the Town of Lillington has undertaken this year is redoing our Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

What is a Comprehensive Land Use Plan?

A Comprehensive Land Use Plan is a guiding document for a community's future growth and development. Based on broad buy-in and sound information, it articulates a vision for the community's future and offers a roadmap for how that future can be achieved. The plan establishes a framework for formulating development ordinances, small area plans, capital and municipal budgets, and other tools to implement the plan recommendations. It also contains a Future Land Use Map to guide land use and public improvement decisions for a decade or more. The guiding principles in a plan are stated as a vision, goals to achieve the vision, an action plan, and policy recommendations. By definition, a comprehensive plan for a town is broad and long-range. It covers a wide geographic area, a variety of community issues, and a decade or longer planning period. The broad scope of the plan gives the community flexibility to apply multiple strategies to implement the plan objectives. Each step in the implementation of the plan will add to progress in achieving the community vision.

Feedback and collaboration are two key aspects that are integral to the success of the Land Use Plan. If you wish to stay connected with the Town throughout this process, please visit our Comprehensive Land Use Plan website for a timeline, public engagement opportunities, and the study area. 

Why Plan?

Change is inevitable, whether a community is growing, losing population, or stable. Planning helps a local government, and the people and groups that are affected by its decisions and policies, to prepare for change; manage the direction in which the community is headed; and ensure community well-being, however that is defined by the people in the community. Careful study allows a town to direct its efforts and activities strategically. Gathering information, getting citizen input, and anticipating the challenges that are likely to occur helps the community manage its future toward a desired outcome, rather than being passively affected by events and trends as they happen. Essentially, planning occurs when a community makes a concerted effort to exert some control over its future and to bring about its choices rather than wait for things to happen to it. 

View our Current Land Use Plan:

The Lillington Board of Commissioners, with technical assistance from the NC Department of Commerce and CenterPlace, LLC, adopted the 2015 Lillington Land Use Plan to plan for anticipated growth and change, to assess and prioritize the community's needs, to envision its best future, and to build a rational strategic framework for meeting important community goals.