Looking Ahead

Recommended Growth Plan


Growth Plan

Public Chapter 1101, passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1998, requires that all cities and counties within the state develop recommended growth plans and create joint economic and community development boards. The recommended growth plan must address the issues of growth policy, annexation, and incorporation. Public Chapter 1101 provides the structures and processes for local governments to cooperatively determine their own future, but did not impose a single statewide solution. The law provides sufficient flexibility so that local governments may tailor their growth plans to suit the unique character of their area.

Growth Plan Council

The law calls for a comprehensive growth policy plan in each county that outlines anticipated development during the next 20 years. The initial draft of the growth plan is formulated by a coordinating committee whose membership is composed of representatives of the county, cities, utilities, schools, chambers of commerce, the soil conservation districts and others. The county and cities may propose boundaries for inclusion in the plan. After the growth plan is developed, the committee conducts public hearings and submits the plan to each city and county for ratification.

Areas

The plan identifies three distinct types of areas:

  • Urban Growth Boundaries (UGB) - regions which contain the corporate limits of a municipality and the adjoining territory where growth is expected.
  • Planned Growth Areas (PGA) - compact sections outside incorporated municipalities where growth is expected (if there are such areas in the county), and where new incorporations may occur.
  • Rural Areas (RA) - territory not within 1 of the other 2 categories which is to be preserved for agriculture, recreation, forest, wildlife, and uses other than high-density commercial or residential development.

The law requires establishment of a joint economic and community development board to foster communications among all sectors of the community. The Robertson County Joint Economic and Community Development Board meets quarterly.

Copies of the Robertson County Recommended Growth Plan, including the growth plan for the City of Springfield, are on file at the City of Springfield Community Development Department and the Robertson County Planning Department. View map of the City of Springfield Urban Growth Boundary (PDF), and the Robertson County Urban Growth Boundary (PDF).