JEFFERSON COUNTY COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
JEFFERSON COUNTYCOMPREHENSIVE PLANA New Direction
COMPREHENSIVE PLANOFJEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMAPrepared by theJefferson County Planning & Zoning Commissionthrough theJefferson County Department of Land DevelopmentFirst Installment adopted by the Planning & Zoning Commission on August 14, 2008,and updated September 11, 2008, December 11, 2008 and December 8, 2011.
SECTION 1: PLAN & PROCESS1a.The Planning ProgramJefferson County and Its Charge to PlanWhy do we want to do this?What is a Comprehensive Plan, and how would it relate to us?The End ProductBackground: History of Jefferson County’s Land Use Plan1b.The Planning ProcessThe Comprehensive Planning ProcessThe County’s Plan TodayThe Plan for the Plan: A Two-Prong ApproachProng 1: The Policy SideProng 2: The Geography SidePutting Policy and Geography Together Elements NotwithstandingPlanning the Future Development of Jefferson CountyDeveloping The Watershed Development Plan Map1c.Plan Mapping and ImplementationGeneral Implementation of the Comprehensive PlanDeviations From, and Amendments To, The PlanSECTION 2: PLAN OVERVIEW & PURPOSE2a.OverviewIntroductionThe CountyResourcesEvolution of the PlanThe New PlanThe Current State and Applicability of the Plans2b.Purpose of the PlanPurpose and IntentGoals And ObjectivesCounty-Wide GoalsCounty-Wide ObjectivesFirst Installment adopted by the Planning & Zoning Commission on August 14, 2008,and updated September 11, 2008, December 11, 2008 and December 8, 2011.
General Development/Land Use PoliciesInfrastructureTransit-Oriented DevelopmentResidential Land UsesInstitutional and Utility UsesCommercial Land UsesIndustrial Land UsesDevelopment In Rural AreasOther General Policies and Policy IssuesZoningAesthetic StandardsSurface Water, Erosion, Sedimentation and GradingStormwater ManagementFloodplainsSteep SlopesRecreation, Natural Resources and ConservationOpen Space in New DevelopmentsSECTION 3: THE POLICY SIDE – PLAN ELEMENTSElement 1: Streets and RoadsExisting Development PoliciesElement 2: Sanitary SewerExisting Development PoliciesElement 3: Land UseGeneral Development and Land Use PoliciesElement 4: Community & Neighborhood PlanningOverviewBuilding Sustainable Neighborhoods and CommunitiesNon-Residential Uses in VillagesPreview of a New DistrictSECTION 4: THE GEOGRAPHY SIDE – WATERSHED PLANSShades Creek Watershed PlanSECTION 5: VILLAGE & COMMUNITY PLANSEastern Valley/Pocahontas Road Urban Village Plan (adopted 12/11/2008)Concord Community Plan (both community plans adopted 12/8/2011)McDonald Chapel Community Plan & Long-Term Recovery Action PlanFirst Installment adopted by the Planning & Zoning Commission on August 14, 2008,and updated September 11, 2008, December 11, 2008 and December 8, 2011.
COMPREHENSIVE PLANOFJEFFERSON COUNTY, ALABAMASECTION 1THE PLAN AND THE PLANNING PROCESSAdopted in three sub-sections as part of the First Installment of this Plan by theJefferson County Planning & Zoning Commission on August 14, 2008Updated September 11, 2008
JEFFERSON COUNTY AND ITS CHARGE TO PLANWhenever a government agency embarks on a mission to change something or dosomething “new”, it seems that the first question people ask is WHY DO WE WANT TO DO THIS?And the short answer is because ultimately, only a comprehensive plan has thepotential to become the consolidated, definitive representation of the combined andcoordinated plans of all of Jefferson County’s development-related departments,working together for the sole purpose of realizing the County Commission’s vision forgiving Jefferson County the best possible future from all possible perspectives.And, recognizing the value of such a plan, the Alabama Legislature set out to describein detail just how a comprehensive or master plan might be used, as well as detailedinstructions on how such a plan is to be developed and adopted.And so our state enablinglegislation charges our Planning& Zoning Commission with theresponsibility for preparing andadopting the master plan, orcomprehensive plan, as the official plan for the development of the unincorporated areaof the County. However, this may also include the planning of incorporated areas to theextent that such areas are related to the planning of the unincorporated territory (forexample, with regard to roads and sewers).WHAT IS A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, AND HOW WOULD IT RELATE TO US?Comprehensive planshave been referred to as“the official statement ofa legislative body thatsets forth goals, policiesand guidelines intendedto direct the present andfuture physical andeconomic developmentof the community,including a unifiedphysical design for thepublic and privatedevelopment of land andwater”.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1a: The Planning ProgramPage 1 of 5
And as the insets show,our legislation alsoincludes specificlanguage describingwhat Jefferson Countycan do with such a plan.An adopted plan will notonly make the County’sintentions for the futureclear to both current andfuture residents of theCounty, but it will alsoserve as a guide helpingto locate the many different kinds of developments that are coming in the County.Furthermore, after the comprehensive plan is adopted, the Planning & ZoningCommission will be in a position to review all public projects for consistency with thatplan (again, according to our enabling legislation). This applies to everything from publicutilities to publicparks and recreation,to street wideningsand right-of-wayvacation.And, with public utilities included in the planning process, the mechanism would be inplace for the Planning & Zoning Commission and/or the different departments/agenciesto collaborate on how they might “adjust” their individual plans to achieve the bestoverall benefit to the County as a whole. Also, by incorporating the various departments’public improvement projects into the comprehensive planning process – projects onwhich no less than one public hearing will most certainly have to be held anyway – thepublic review requirement can be more efficiently satisfied by the hearings on the plan,without having to set up any kind of “special” hearings for the projects themselves.THE END PRODUCTAlthough the planning process never really stops, and all plans are re-evaluated andamended from time to time in order for them to remain current and accurate, there is a“final product”. And even though that same “final product” will itself continue to evolveand expand with further research and development to address additional issues orareas of concern to the County, our goal with this Plan is to present a mapped FutureDevelopment Plan for all of Jefferson County, along with a compilation of all relevantdevelopment policies from all County departments, and any other agencies – includingany cities – who might want to participate.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1a: The Planning ProgramPage 2 of 5
In short, our product here – this Comprehensive Plan – will be a growing document thatwill consolidate, for the first time, all of the plans and policies of all of the County’sdepartments into one document – one big Plan with information from every departmentwhose work impacts how and where land is developed in Jefferson County. And it is adocument that will be useful to far more people than just the County Commission, orone or two County departments: as described in Section 2.b., Purpose and Intent, thisPlan will be something that many other departments, many other agencies, and eventhe cities and towns that share the space within our County lines can benefit from!Furthermore, as this Plan grows to include more and more aspects of the County’sgovernmental duties and responsibilities, or simply to improve on the various aspects ofdevelopment already covered by the Plan, any and all such new Elements and/or newpolicies – as well as any proposed regulation or ordinance amendment that may resultfrom such new Element or policy – will be brought forward to the public for review andcomment by all interested and potentially-affected parties prior to any adoption of such.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1a: The Planning ProgramPage 3 of 5
BACKGROUND: HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY’S LAND USE PLANWhen the Jefferson County Commission called for a Countywide plan to be developed back in the mid-90’s, the drivingforce was zoning. The Commission was looking forsomething that would give them a broader frame of referencefrom which to analyze their rezoning cases and anticipate theeffects of their zoning decisions. More and more cases werebeginning to “accumulate” in certain strategic areas, whileother cases indicated the beginnings of commercial sprawlalong various key road corridors. As a result, theCommission was looking for a way to evaluate their cases inrelation to “the bigger development picture”, instead ofcontinuing to do things on a “one-property-at-a-time” basis.To develop that plan, the County was divided (by census tract) into 13 planning areas.Each area was then taken individually after being then prioritized based on theproportion of rezoning cases that had been filed over the last 10 years, with the publichearing on the first Area Plan held at McAdory High School in 1997.In 2006, the Planning & Zoning Commission adopted proposed land use maps for thelast of those 13 areas; and while it took longer than anticipated (for various reasons),what was essentially the first phase of a comprehensive plan – i.e., the development ofa Land Use Plan for both the Planning & Zoning Commission and the CountyCommission to use as a guide in making their decisions on rezoning cases – wascomplete.And that Land Use Plan was a good start, as not onlyhave the Commissions come to rely rather heavily onit when considering rezoning cases, but it has alsobeen instrumental in helping us improve and refineour zoning and subdivision regulations. But again,this was only the first phase of a much larger project,as the scope of our Land Use Plan was rather limitedas compared to the scope of the ComprehensivePlan it was to become a part of.Furthermore, flooding and other issues were starting to emerge as major concerns ofCommissioners and citizens alike. Intergovernmental cooperation is probably at an alltime high, yet even higher levels of coordination are needed to address emerging issuesthat affect us on a “metropolitan area” scale. And subdivision development continues toincrease all across the County – including in rural areas, thus heightening concernsabout the rising costs of providing infrastructure for new development. And whileincreased departmental coordination has provided the Commission with up-to-date andaccurate information regarding sewer availability, roadway capacities and otherinfrastructure elements that factor in to their decisions on rezoning cases, having theJefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1a: The Planning ProgramPage 4 of 5
future plans for all of these kinds of elements (i.e., not just the existing conditions)collected in one place will give the Commission the best information for seeing andshaping the future Jefferson County.So in January of 2007, the Jefferson County Commission launched a concerted effort tostart bringing together the plans of all of the other County departments, to form theminto a Comprehensive Plan that will contain, coordinate and communicate everythinganyone would need to know about what the Jefferson County of the future is going tolook like.And of course, there were several “individual” planning efforts taking place here at theCounty at the departmental level: Roads &Transportation had local road improvementprojects scheduled, looking out as far as 5 to 10 years; Community Development hastheir “5-Year Plan”; and Land Development is continuously working with the Planning &Zoning Commission on trying to maintain a 10-to-20-year outlook for the Land Use Plan.In addition, there were also a number of other significant planning efforts going on inJefferson County as well, each of which brings their own particular issues to the table.For example, the Jefferson County Health Department has embarked on its own plan“to improve health and quality of life throughout Jefferson County”. There had also beena multi-jurisdictional study done of the Upper Cahaba Watershed, which looked in-depthat conservation and development issues as they relate to water quality.So there are already several key ingredients ready to be pulled together into a singlecomprehensive planning program for Jefferson County as a whole.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1a: The Planning ProgramPage 5 of 5
THE COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING PROCESSHistorically, comprehensive plans have consisted of several different “elements”, eachpertaining to some specific aspect of a community’s character and development pattern.Based on the planning information that already exists among the various departmentsand agencies in Jefferson County, Land Development set about to assemble an initial“core” set of elements that the rest of our comprehensive plan can be built around.Those core elements were:A Transportation Element, includinga major road plan, a transit plan, and acompilation of policies and proceduresbeing utilized by the Department ofRoads & Transportation;A Sanitary Sewer Element, includingan expansion plan, and the policies andprocedures being utilized by theDepartment of Environmental Servicesregarding sanitary sewers;A Community Development Elementcovering housing rehabilitation andcommunity revitalization plans;Comprehensive PlanINITIAL ELEMENTS TO BE DEVELOPED/ADOPTED Community Health: plan for improving the general health and quality oflife for citizens throughout Jefferson County Transportation:Transportation: a major road plan and a transit plan Sanitary Sewer:Sewer: expansion plan, policies and procedures Community Development:Development: housing rehabilitation andcommunity revitalization plans Recreation and Conservation:Conservation: policies and procedures to be adopted asa result of studies like the Upper Cahaba W atershed, the GreenwaysGreenways Plan,and the Flood and AllAll-Hazard Mitigation Plans, and implemented through aCountyCounty- wide “greenprint”greenprint” Land Use:Use: updated plans and projections based on all of the newelements above Zoning and Subdivision Regulations:Regulations: updated to implement Elementpolicies and facilitate municipal coordinationOTHER ELEMENTS TO BE ADDED Community Facilities:Facilities: planning for future schools (in cooperation with thecities and the County Board of Education), parks and other civic endeavors Housing: infill and redevelopment strategies for urbanized areasA Recreation and Conservation Economic Development:Development: incentive and location programs; commercialand industrial infill and redevelopment programsElement establishing a County-wide Water System : expansion plans, policies and procedures of the different“greenprint” of policies and proceduressystems, and relationship to Fire protectionstemming from studies like the UpperCahaba Watershed, the GreenwaysPlan, and the Flood and All-HazardMitigation Plans, not just to protect sensitive areas, but also to promote the creation anduse of recreational and conservation programs like those currently being undertaken bythe Jefferson County Greenways Commission;And of course, as each of the above elements were explored, and the variousdepartments’ plans, policies and procedures were compiled, the Land Use Plan – nowalso an ‘Element’ of the Comprehensive Plan – was updated to reflect theinterrelationship among all of the other elements as the planning process proceeded.But it does not stop there. As the process continues, the Comprehensive Plan willconstantly be exploring ways our Regulations (Zoning, Subdivision & Construction,etc.) can be updated and improved in order to actually implement the policies that aredeveloped within each of the various Elements – and with a particular emphasis onways we can coordinate our development efforts with the forty (40) municipalities thatcurrently govern land within our County borders.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1b: The Planning ProcessPage 1 of 18
And other elements will be added in the future, as work on the Comprehensive Plancontinues, and as new trends and issues in construction and development arise.THE COUNTY’S PLAN TODAYHowever, even as the Plan development process was just getting underway, there werealready changes in store. For example, the initial “core” set of Elements to be donechanged due to the development of the process by which the Plan itself would bedeveloped (which is described in the following sections) – and that is, with a specialemphasis on neighborhood and community planning. And of course, at such time asElements pertaining to Recreation and Conservation, Community Development, or anyother subject areas do come to fruition, they will also be brought to the public for reviewand comment before anything is actually adopted.Initial Core Elements of theJefferson CountyComprehensive Plan1 Streets and RoadsA.B.C.Major Road PlanMPO Transit & County PlansRoads & Transportation Policies2 Sanitary SewerA.B.Outline of SystemSewer Development Policies3 Land UseA.Land Use and Development Policies4 Neighborhood & Community PlanningNevertheless, each department was the key “player” in the development of the planelement for its respective area(s) of operation. However, in order to achieve the level ofcoordination necessary for Jefferson County to have a truly “comprehensive” – andeffective – plan, there had to be input from the other potentially-affected departmentsalong the way as well.Generally speaking, the work started with the County Commissioners and theirrespective departments conducting their own assessment of existing conditions, anddeveloping their own respective proposed “plans” for dealing with the issues that theywill have identified.Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1b: The Planning ProcessPage 2 of 18
The Planning & Zoning Commission then reviewed and, ultimately, incorporated the“final” departmental plans into the comprehensive plan through a public hearing andadoption process.Since Land Development is the support staff for the Planning & Zoning Commission, itfell to this department to – in addition to carrying out its own planning work – facilitatethe overall development of the Comprehensive Plan itself. So while the individualdepartments – as well as the Jefferson County Commissioners themselves – weredeveloping their respective plan elements and directing the establishment of theircorresponding policies, the planning staff of Land Development was:- coordinating the interaction among the various departments and the CountyCommission;- coordinating all departmental activities with the Planning & Zoning Commission;- assuming responsibility for ensuring that the process used in developing the plancomplies with all applicable legislative requirements, including notifications andpublic hearings; and,- is now responsible for the production, distribution and maintenance of the Plan,including all subsequent updates thereto.Thus, the general organizational structure/flow diagram by which this comprehensiveplan was initially developed and adopted is essentially as shown below (although noconsultants have been involved to date, and the individual Commissioners’ areas ofresponsibility have changed):Jefferson County Comprehensive Plan – Section 1b: The Planning ProcessPage 3 of 18
THE PLAN FOR THE PLAN: A TWO-PRONG APPROACHThe work of preparing this comprehensive plan took place on two fronts simultaneously:one focusing on developing and implementing specific programs and practices as amatter of policy, and the other focusing on geography – i.e., applying those policies tospecific geographic areas.Prong 1: The Policy SideAfter establishing the “mission statement” for the comprehensive plan as a whole –spelling out the purpose
working together for the sole purpose of realizing the County Commission’s vision for giving Jefferson County the best possible future from all possible perspectives. And, recognizing the value of such a plan, the Alabama Legislature set out to describe in detail just how a compre
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