What is a Comprehensive Plan? 

​A Comprehensive Plan:

• Documents and illustrates what a community looks like today and what direction it has decided it wants to go for the future; it includes assessments of existing resources and issues, projections of future conditions and needs, and consideration of collective goals and desires.
• Is a policy guide and provides a framework for future land use decision-making and the physical development of the municipality. It will not only address buildings and infrastructure, it will also include the important social, natural resource and economic values of the community. The Comprehensive plan is a method of translating the community's values into specific actions.
• Covers an approximate time frame of 20 years; it is assumed that shorter-term reviews will keep it current with the changing needs of the community.
• Is closely integrated with other municipal documents and initiatives.

The Comprehensive Plan is NOT a zoning ordinance, a subdivision regulation, a budget, a capital improvement program or other regulatory document. It is meant to provide the framework for the development of these implementation tools.

What is involved in preparing a Comprehensive Plan?

• The Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee will be overseeing the Comprehensive planning process
• Public outreach and meetings
• Data collection and analysis that will ultimately be rolled into the Comprehensive Plan document
• Preparation of the chapters of the plan (sometimes called plan elements)
• New implementation plan.

Information and data are gathered from the prior planning studies, while current views and opinions are being collected through community events where residents are invited to provide inputs. Other sources include data provided from state census data, and mapping data provided by the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission.

Thomas County 2018

Thomas County and the Cities of Coolidge, Ochocknee, Meigs, and Boston have begun to prepare a new Comprehensive Plan for the first time since 2008.  This plan will focus on the county and its cities next 20 years.
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The following is a brief description of the plan and the process that will be undertaken to complete it.  

Components 
of the Comprehensive 
Plan

Click here for the Preliminary Comprehensive Plan Schedule

UPCOMING:
PUBLIC INPUT MEETINGS
Coolidge
1/17/17       Goals and Policies
6:00PM        Coolidge City Hall
1/24/17       Needs & Opportunities
6:00PM         Coolidge City Hall

Thomas County
2/9/17         Goals and Policies
6:00PM         Thomas County Public Library (201 N. Maddison St. Thomasville, GA)
2/16/17       Needs & Opportunities
6:00PM         Thomas County EMS Station 1202 (Remington St.  Thomasville, GA)

Boston
1/12/17        Goals and Policies
6:00PM         Boston Community Center
1/19/17        Needs & Opportunities
6:00PM         Boston Community Center

Meigs
2/6/17         Goals and Policies
6:00PM         Meigs Community Center
3/2/17        Needs & Opportunities
6:00PM         Meigs Community Center

Ochlocknee
​1/16/17        Goals and Policies
6:00PM         Ochlocknee City Hall
2/20/17       Needs & Opportunities
6:00PM         Ochlocknee City Hall

​What are the major sections of the Comprehensive Plan document?
Required elements for each government:

• Community goals
• Needs & Opportunities
• Community Work Program (implementation plan)

Special requirements for Thomas County and its municipalities:

• Land Use Element (required for communities that have zoning)
• Economic Development (required for Tier 1 Georgia Job Tax Credit Counties)

Special requirement for Thomas County

• Capital Improvement (required for communities which charge impact fees for new development) 

Public Participation:
Public forums and community meetings are planned (please keep checking for the dates and times for these meetings). The first public hearings are designed to brief the community on the process to be used to develop the plan, opportunities for public participation in development of the plan, and to obtain input on the proposed planning process.

The first public workshop will be to discuss/develop community goals and policies. This is an important product of this task is the Community Goals that identifies the goals that the community seeks to achieve. ​

Click here Project Team Information

frequently asked questions
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