Urban Reserve Area Program

Overview: What is a Concept Plan?

A Concept Plan is a document that sets forth written and illustrated set of general actions designed to achieve a desired goal that moves from the general (concept plan) to the specific (Urban Growth Boundary Amendment, Annexation, Master Plan, Site Development Plan).  

The general framework for Concept Plans is provided in the Comprehensive Plan Regional Plan Element, which sets forth the requirements to develop Concept Plans for each of the City's eight (8) Urban Reserve Areas (URAs).  Although intended to be general in nature, with some degree of flexibility, the Concept Plans must provide enough information to show that certain planning parameters can be met, including but not limited to:

• General land use distributions identified for each URA,
• Committed residential density targets; and,
• Regional benchmarks for mixed-use/pedestrian friendly areas .  

The City is required to adopt a Conceptual Land Use Plan and Conceptual Transportation Plan for each of its eight (8) Urban Reserve Areas (URAs) before or in conjunction with an application to amend the Urban Growth Boundary within a given URA.  Collectively the City's eight (8) URAs represent a 50-year land supply that the City can grow into if there is a demonstrated need for a particular land use (i.e. residential, commercial industrial, etc.).  Concept Plans do not mandate inclusion in the UGB or annexation into the city limits.  

Adopted Concept Plans

To-date, the City has adopted four (4) Concept Plans: