Page 9 - Littleton, CO Comprehensive Plan

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INTRODUCTION

The Envision Littleton Comprehensive Plan (the Plan) will guide future development, redevelopment, and community
enhancement efforts over the next 20 years through 2040. It serves as a framework for thoughtful community discussion
on the real and perceived challenges currently facing Littleton, and opportunities that will shape its future. Through long-
range planning efforts, the community can accommodate its projected growth and revitalization in a manner that
preserves its history, culture, and overall quality of life for current and future residents.
The Plan resulted from an 18-month planning and community engagement process. The process began with the Envision
Littleton Vision Report, adopted unanimously by City Council on December 18, 2018. The Vision Report established a
unifying vision and identified Littleton’s core values, guiding principles, shared priorities, and concerns. The Plan’s findings
and recommendations focus on the physical and economic aspects of the community’s projected growth and development
in the coming years. It provides goals, policies, and actions that will help City officials, appointees, and staff in determining
the location, financing, and sequencing of public improvements; administering development regulations; and guiding
reinvestment efforts. The Plan also provides a basis for coordinating the actions of many different functions and interests
within and outside of municipal government.
PLAN PURPOSE

A comprehensive plan is the most important policy document a municipal government prepares and maintains. This is
because the Plan:
• Lays out a long-range vision regarding the growth and enhancement of the community;

• Considers at once the city’s regional context, and the entire geographic area of the community, including areas where
new development and redevelopment may occur;
• Assesses near- and longer-term needs and desires across a variety of inter-related topics that represent the key
“building blocks” of a community (e.g., land use, transportation, urban design, economic development, housing,
neighborhoods, parks and recreation, heritage and tourism, arts and culture, utility infrastructure, public facilities and
services, cultural facilities, etc.); and
• Serves as a guideline for measuring success, and is amended from time to time to remain a “living document” that is
able to address changing circumstances.
Through a comprehensive plan, a community determines how best to accommodate and manage its projected growth,
and the revitalization of older neighborhoods and commercial areas. The Plan aims to ensure that ongoing development
will proceed in an orderly, well-planned manner so that public facilities and services can keep pace with development, and
so that residents’ quality of life will be enhanced.
Significantly, by clarifying and stating the City’s intentions regarding the area’s physical development and infrastructure
investment, the Plan also creates a greater level of predictability for residents, land owners, developers, potential
investors, and partner agencies and organizations.
USE OF THE PLAN

This Plan will take our community to a new level in terms of livability and tangible accomplishments. The Plan is ultimately
a guidance document for City officials and staff, who must make decisions on a daily basis that will determine the future
direction, financial health, and “look and feel” of the community. These decisions are carried out through:

• Targeted programs and expenditures prioritized through the City’s annual budget process, including routine essential
functions such as code compliance.
• Major public improvements and land acquisitions financed through the City’s budgeting efforts.

• New and amended City ordinances and regulations that implement Plan objectives.
• Departmental work plans and resources in key areas.
• Support for ongoing planning and studies that will further clarify needs, costs, benefits, and strategies.

Adopted October 15, 2019