The 2040 Unified Plan, also known as a comprehensive plan, contains analysis, policies, maps and proposals to help guide progress and development countywide on multiple fronts through 2040. It was crafted after months of public input from stakeholder meetings, open house information sessions across the county, intercept interviews at parks and surveys.
The Unified Plan provides a blueprint of how the County’s residents and other stakeholders would like to see Gwinnett grow and develop over the next 22 years. It affords the County an opportunity to review conditions in the community, anticipate future needs and establish short-term and long-term goals.
Broad in its scope, the plan addresses community goals, needs and opportunities, housing, transportation, economic development and land use and establishes a community work program.
The plan, developed by consulting firm Pond & Co., traces Gwinnett’s history, covers the results from public input sessions, incorporates demographic trends, and inventories the county’s infrastructure, community amenities, land use and built environment.
It establishes a vision taking into account the County’s needs and opportunities and incorporates five themes: Maintain Economic Development and Fiscal Health, Foster Redevelopment, Maintain Mobility and Accessibility and Accessibility, Provide More Housing Choices, and Keep Gwinnett a Preferred Place.
Other plans are incorporated into the Unified Plan, including the County’s recently approved Comprehensive Transportation Plan, Connect Gwinnett: Transit Plan, Countywide Trails Master Plan and water and sewer plans.
Future development possibilities are laid out, identifying higher density areas, more pastoral areas and those in between. The plan enumerates possible activity centers, employment centers, residential neighborhoods and low-intensity areas. A future land use map shows recommended development patterns in detail.
The plan is required by law and necessary for certain state and federal grants. It will be reviewed by the state Department of Community Affairs and the Atlanta Regional Commission, and the final plan will be adopted by the Gwinnett Board of Commissioners in February 2019.
To read the draft plan, visit www.gwinnettcounty.com.
