Merit - General Planning Project

by Planning and Community Development Department Staff

El Paso County is experiencing unprecedented growth and is expected to increase in population by more than 250,000 people in the next 30 years. On May 26, 2021, the El Paso County Planning Commission adopted the Master Plan of El Paso County, Colorado. The Master Plan mission is to keep El Paso County as a great place to live and establish a shared vision for the future.

The Master Plan seeks to balance this new growth and remain committed to persevering the natural environment while considering the community’s desires for the future of El Paso County. To achieve this, the following three components were created to provide a flexible guide for decision making and a framework for new projects and policies.

• Vision- Illustrates what the County can achieve following the adoption of the Master Plan. Depicting the County community’s collective desires, and serving as the foundation for the Plan’s goals, policies, and recommendations.
• Core Principles- Summarizes and highlight the importance of high priority planning elements within the Master Plan. These Define, at a high level, what recommendations within each chapter ultimately work towards achieving the vision for the County.
• Goals- Describe desired results toward which planning efforts should be directed. They are broad and long-range and represent an ambition to be sought and require the culmination of many smaller actions in order to be fully achieved.

While land use for our growing population plays a main role in the Master Plan, the plan has included other essential elements such as transportation, mobility, community health, tourism, military, hazard migration, and more. Ensuring that proper review and policies are created to improve and grow these elements will establish a bright and prosperous future that reflects community values and priorities.

In the early stages of the Master Plan, thousands of residents and stakeholders were engaged in the planning process to ensure the Plan reflects the aspirations of the community and challenges and concerns deemed most important were addressed.

 The El Paso County Master Plan will serve as the foundation and policy guide to help lead vision-driven decision-making for the next 20 years. While population projections used throughout the Master Plan are for 30 years, this Plan is expected to be updated regularly and enhanced after 20 years. This is to ensure that the Plan is up to date with the projected growth population and any new elements that are to come in the future.

The El Paso County Master Plan is an important step in ensuring that the county is prepared for future growth and development. It is essential that we not only have the infrastructure in place to accommodate future growth, but also the ability to provide the services that will be required.