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Character Area Planning
Character Area Plans are components of the General Plan that are used to guide future development and revitalization within specific areas of the city. Character Area Plans focus on area-related goals and policies whereas the General Plan provides goals and policies applicable to the city as a whole. To avoid repetition, the Character Area Plans supplement the city-wide goals provided by the General Plan.
The Character Area Plan process includes five major steps:
1. Visioning and Data Gathering
2. Data Analysis
3. Draft Plan
4. Final Plan and Implementation Program
5. Incorporation into the General Plan
Each Character Area Plan will include a long range vision, a description of the land use in the area, area-applicable policies and implementation programs, and may include special study areas within each community area.
Character Areas
Downtown (Adopted 2009)
Southern Scottsdale (Adopted 2010)
Greater Airpark (Adopted 2010)
Shea (Currently Underway)
*includes adopted Cactus Corridor and Shea/East Shea Area Plans
Tonto Foothills (TBD)
*includes adopted Desert Foothills and Dynamite Foothills Character Area Plans
McDowell Vistas (TBD)
Background
The City of Scottsdale has a long history of using area-based plans to provide policy and program direction for certain areas of the city. The city's first comprehensive General Plan was completed in 1961, and several other policy plan processes followed in the 1980's.
The 2001 General Plan designated the twenty-four (24) areas within the city as Character Areas, which were areas intended to have plans that ensure the quality of development and consistency of character within the context of community-wide goals. By the time the city began to update the General Plan in 2006, only four of the Character Area Plans were officially adopted -- Downtown (1984), Cactus Corridor Plan (1992), Desert Foothills (1999) and Dynamite Foothills (2000).
As part of the development of the 2011 General Plan program, the city has adjusted the area-planning boundaries, showing the seven (7) City Council adopted Character Area Plans along with the remaining boundaries from the 2001 General Plan that have not yet been adopted.
Resources
Staff Report on Area Plan Processes- February 13, 2007
(pdf/1.5mb/31pp)
Staff Presentation- City Council, February 13, 2007
(pdf/281kb/18pp)
Questions or Comments?
Contact the Long Range Planning Team at 480-312-7225 or e-mail planninginfo@scottsdaleaz.gov.
