The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) has announced the online release of a comprehensive land use planning technical guide entitled “Comprehensive Land Use Planning in Coastal North Carolina – Guidance for Local Governments.”
The online manual provides guidance to local governments for development of a basic land use plan that complies with the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) land use planning requirements and offers an optional and much broader comprehensive plan that integrates Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) requirements.
“The availability of this comprehensive guide in an online format continues DCM’s modernization of our processes and materials in order to better serve our local governments and the community,” said Braxton Davis, Division Director.
Each land use plan includes local policies that address growth issues such as the protection of productive resources (i.e., farmland, forest resources, fisheries), desired types of economic development, natural resource protection and the reduction of storm hazards.
This land use planning guide was developed in partnership with the University of North Carolina-Wilmington’s Dr. Mark T. Imperial and Dr. Kirsten Kinzer.
The land use planning technical guide for local governments may be found on the Division of Coastal Management’s website.