What is a Comprehensive Plan?
A Comprehensive Plan consists of maps, policies, goals and objectives and provides a “blueprint” for how a community should grow in the future. A Comprehensive Plan typically looks 20-30 years in the future and incorporates a wide range of issues and questions relating to land use, including transportation, land use mix, parks and open space, community facilities, community character and identity, housing and neighborhoods, and economic development. Once adopted, elected and appointed officials of the County will use the Plan as a guide for their land use and public investment decisions.

How does the County’s Comprehensive Plan relate to the plans of individual communities within the County?
The County Comprehensive Plan will focus on planning future uses and policies for the unincorporated areas outside the incorporated cities and towns and will collaborate with cities to align goals, policies, and land use decisions, particularly at the edge of cites, where a higher degree of intergovernmental coordination is needed.

How does the Comprehensive Plan relate to zoning?
The Land Use Plan map, a major component of the Comprehensive Plan, is not the same as County zoning regulations and districts and does not change existing zoning. Future zoning and re-zoning, however, will have to be consistent with the new Comprehensive Plan map once the County adopts it. The Land Use Plan map of the Comprehensive Plan is a “blueprint” for future development decisions and looks at the big picture of how land uses should be mixed and located. The Sheridan County Zoning Ordinance is the tool that implements the Land Use Plan. It contains more specific guidelines for how development can happen in specific areas, or zoning districts. These standards regulate more specifically how an individual lot can be developed including: allowable uses, building heights, fire safety, number of parking spaces, landscaping, signs, and other variables of site design.

How long will it take to update the Comprehensive Plan?
The Comprehensive Plan update process began in the summer of 2007 and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2008. Public involvement is crucial to the development of the plan, particularly in assessing future goals, policies, and land use alternatives. Public meeting dates, times, and locations will be posted on this web site, and the County encourages all members of the public to attend. Before the updated Plan will become a formal policy document of the County, it will go before the County Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners for review, comment, and adoption. These hearings will also be open to the public.

Who Will Be Involved in Updating The Plan?
The Comprehensive Plan update will incorporate the feedback and input from a variety of sources, including:

• County elected and appointed officials,
• County staff,
• Cities and towns in Sheridan County,
• State and federal agencies,
• Property owners and residents,
• Interested stakeholder groups,
• Business owners and ranchers/farmers, and
• Service providers (safety, water, sewer, energy, schools, etc).

There will be meetings throughout the process. Please read more under the Get Involved tab of this web site and check the Upcoming Events box on the main page for upcoming meetings.