ment, with greater reliance on private soil absorption
sewage disposal systems and private wells.3
After careful review and evaluation of the alternatives and
following public hearings, the Commission adopted the
controlled centralization alternative as the recommended
regional land use plan for the year 2000. In so doing, the
Commission reaffirmed the basic principles and concepts
of the first-generation plan, including, importantly, the
centralization of urban development and the location of
new urban development in areas which may be readily
provided with basic urban services and facilities; the
preservation of primary environmental corridors; and
the preservation of prime agricultural lands.
Design Year 2010 Regional Land Use Plan
In the third regional land use planning study, the second
regional land use plan was revised and extended to the
year 2010. In view of the extensive work in the prepara-
tion and evaluation of alternative land use designs con-
ducted in the first and second regional land use planning
studies, and the finding in each case that a controlled
existing trend plan emphasizing a centralized settlement
pattern could best meet agreed-upon regional land use
objectives, it was determined that additional design alter-
natives need not be analyzed. Rather, it was determined
that the basic concepts of the prior plans would be brought
forward and incorporated into the year 2010 plan. Thus,
the year 2010 regional land use plan proposes a central-
ized development pattern consistent with the efficient and
economical provision of public facilities and services and
with the preservation of primary environmental corridors
and prime agricultural lands. That plan is graphically
summarized on Map 2. Key features of the plan are set
forth in Table 1.
In response to increased uncertainty regarding future
trends in population and economic activity in the Region,
under the third regional land use planning study, four land
use plans for "alternative future" scenarios of growth
and change in the Region, conceptually bracketing the
recommended year 2010 regional land use plan, were
also prepared. The alternative future land use plans were
intended to represent reasonable extremes of possible
future conditions with respect to population, employment,
3The controlled centralization and controlled decentrali-
zation alternative land use plans for the year 2000
are described in Chapter V of SEWRPC Planning Report

No. 25, Volume Two.

and urban land use in the Region through the year 2010.
The alternative plans, in conjunction with the recom-
mended regional land use plan, represent a range of
possible future conditions within the Region through the
year 2010, within which planning and decision making
regarding development matters may be carried out.4
NEED FOR PLAN
REVISION AND EXTENSION
To remain vital, the regional land use plan must be periodi-
cally reviewed, revised as appropriate, and extended in
time. The principal reason that the year 2010 plan needed
to be extended to the design year 2020, and revised and
updated as part of such an extension, was to support
ongoing regional and local public facility planning. The
regional land use plan provides a framework for trans-
portation, utility, outdoor recreation, and other public
facility planning at the regional, county, and local levels.
The planning period covered by the regional land use plan
should be consistent with the planning periods used in
such facility planning. In facility planning, the planning
period is usually established by the expected life of the
first facilities to be constructed as the plan is implemented,
and typically is about 20 years. By 1997, the year 2010
regional land use plan had a remaining planning period of
13 years. If the regional land use plan is to continue to
serve as a sound basis for long-range public facility plan-
ning at the regional, county, and local levels, the design
year of the plan must be extended to the year 2020. The
next anticipated extension would occur in 2004 to the year
2030, and would involve another major reappraisal of
the regional land use plan based upon year 1995 and year
2000 land use inventories, year 2000 U. S. Bureau of the
Census population and household data, and year 2000
employment data.
As the design year of the regional land use plan is
extended from 2010 to 2020, the plan will be reviewed and
amended to reflect development which has occurred or
which has been committed to since completion of the 2010
plan. The plan will incorporate recently completed county
and municipal land use plans which have served to refine
and detail the regional land use plan, and which are con-
sistent with adopted regional land use development
objectives, principles, and standards.
4The recommended year 2010 regional land use plan
is described in Chapter X of SEWRPC Planning Report
No. 40. The associated alternative future plans are pre-

sented in Chapter XI of that report.

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