This page is in regard to our current 2030 Comprehensive Paln.
Raleigh is beginning the process of creating our next Comprehensive Plan to guide how the city grows beyond the year 2030. To learn more, visit Raleigh's Next Comprehensive Plan.
The 2030 Comprehensive Plan is a long-range policy document adopted and amended by the City Council. The Plan establishes a vision for the City, provides policy guidance for growth and development, and contains action items directed at the City to implement the vision. The Plan contains six strategic vision themes, which are referenced in every element, or chapter, of the document. The Plan is divided into four major sections: the Introduction and Framework, the Plan Elements, the Area Plans, and the Implementation.
Adopting Resolution & 2019 Update
The 2030 Comprehensive Plan was adopted by City Council Resolution 2009-997 on October 7, 2009, with an effective date of November 1, 2009. The 2030 Comprehensive Plan Update was adopted by six City Council resolutions in 2019.
The online and downloadable versions of the Comprehensive Plan are updated one to two times a year. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to the documents for the current year below in the link list labeled "Adopted Comprehensive Plan Amendments by Year."
Changes to the Comprehensive Plan may be initiated by a private entity, usually in support of a proposed development, or by City staff. Changes initiated by staff may be for a variety of reasons, from annual administrative clean-up like removing completed actions, to broader policy-based changes like modifying policy language or maps to further public policy goals.
To request an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, an applicant must schedule a pre-application conference before submitting the following:
Once the application is deemed complete, Planning and Development Staff will begin review and create a website for public comment. Once staff has completed their review, the case will be put on the Planning Commission agenda.
You can view changes to the Comprehensive Plan under consideration on the Comprehensive Plan Amendment Cases webpage. You can also comment and ask questions on changes to the Comprehensive plan through the Comprehensive Plan Engagement Portal .
The adoption of the Plan by the Raleigh City Council was the product of a two-year public process. Information on drafting the Plan, obtaining public input and the adoption process can be found in the Introduction and Framework chapter.
The basis for the Plan is the Community Inventory Report, (also referenced as "Volume II" of the Plan), a repository of background information, data, and analysis. A low-resolution version of Volume II is available below. Beginning in 2012, the Data Book was introduced to catalog annual updates to selected data in the Community Inventory.
Under North Carolina law, all zoning map amendments (or rezonings) must be analyzed for consistency with the Comprehensive Plan. Under City law, development plans that are reviewed by administrative staff, Planning Commission and/or City Council must be in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan as set forth in the Zoning and Development Plan Policy Guide. The staff has prepared two Quick Guides:
Rezoning and the Comprehensive Plan
A summary of how the Comprehensive Plan will be applied to rezoning petitions.
Development Plans and the Comprehensive Plan
An overview of the scope of the required review for preliminary site plans and mixed-use master development plans.
