After a year of work led by community input, the Leland 2045 plan has officially been adopted. Town Council voted unanimously to adopt Leland’s comprehensive plan for land use over the next 25 years at its Nov. 18 meeting.
Leland 2045 will enable Town staff, councilmembers, and residents to anticipate and constructively respond to growth and change, and to encourage the development of safe and healthy built and natural environments that create opportunities for all.
The Town partnered with consulting firm Design Workshop to create Leland 2045. Hundreds of community members participated in developing the plan through surveys, workshops, focus groups, a public engagement hub in Town Hall, a public community meeting, and other feedback.
“The adoption of Leland 2045 is a milestone because it creates the framework for how Leland should develop and conserve land as we balance an increase in population and changing demographics. Despite constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, robust public engagement led the vision, themes, and strategies woven into Leland 2045,” Director of Planning and Inspections Ben Andrea said. “While the plan provides land use policy direction, the core of the plan is about how the built and preserved environment can benefit the people of Leland by creating places where residents’ daily needs are met, social interaction and recreation can take place, and sense of community is enhanced.”
The vision statement created for Leland 2045 is as follows: “Leland is prosperous, inclusive, and resilient. It is a healthy, safe, equitable, and accessible community built upon our strong values for the natural environment; inclusivity; walking and biking; social, economic, and physical connectivity; the quality of our neighborhoods; access to services, facilities, and places to gather; and the unique image and sense of place we have nurtured together as a community.”
Themes for the plan include highly valued and protected natural and cultural resources; livable, diverse, and connected neighborhoods that accommodate growth; a resilient and stable economy; an inclusive, supported, healthy, safe, and educated community; infrastructure that supports community life; and an active participant in a cooperative region.
Town staff will provide quarterly updates on how Leland 2045 is being used to guide planning. The full Leland 2045 plan is available on the Town website.
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