Planning for future land development is an essential government function.
Community land use and development patterns are guided by public policy that forms the basis for where and how we invest in public infrastructure like streets and water/wastewater systems; guide private investment including businesses, housing, institutions, and services; and protect important commmunity resources like water and air quality, and our precious cultural and natural resources.
Change happens. We need to anticipate and plan for it!
Comprehensive planning is a process that combines objective information about our city's resources with trends and community-articulated needs, goals, and aspirations to form a road map for how Burlington will grow and evolve over time. In Burlington, this road map is known as planBTV. planBTV is put into action through land development regulations, investments in public facilities and infrastructure, and government programs for things like affordable housing and small business development. City Planning works in partnership with other City, regional and state agencies in developing a wide range of plans that help assess future community needs and guide future public and private investments in fulfillment of planBTV.
What is planBTV?
"planBTV" refers to a collection of plans that outline a vision for how we will use and develop land, and the necessary infrastructure and tools to support those uses, over the next ten to twenty years. All of the plans in this collection are rooted in our overarching policy document, planBTV: Comprehensive Plan. This plan is both visionary and strategic. It articulates our aspirations for the future of our community, identifies objectives for how we will turn them into reality, and allows us to improve, iterate, and problem solve along the way.
The Comprehensive Plan is the foundation for more specific plans and studies which make up planBTV. These include plans such as planBTV: Downtown & Waterfront Master Plan and planBTV: Walk/Bike. Each of the plans in this collection builts upon the big ideas established in the city's comprehensive plan, and provides more specific direction on how those ideas can be implemented within certain areas of the city, or in order to address a particularly community challenge.
Comprehensive and Area-Wide Plans
South End Plan
Strategies to preserve and enhance arts, innovation, and industry
Topical Plans & Related Studies
