Athens planning commission reviews steering committee's proposed 2045 future land use map

A steering committee appointed by the mayor presented a proposed 2045 future land use map on the record at an Athens-Clarke County Planning Commission work session, recommending a policy framework that concentrates the heaviest new growth on roughly 5.6% of county land and adds new categories to guide redevelopment along corridors and at neighborhood, town and urban centers.

The committee's work, which the steering committee chair said followed 14 months of meetings and two rounds of public input, produced a revised map and a package of new land-use categories planners say are intended to translate community priorities into a policy document that the mayor and commission can use when considering future zoning changes.

Why it matters: The future land use map is not zoning, staff and committee members repeatedly said, but it sets a policy expectation that can unlock where denser development, mixed use and infrastructure investment are likely to be encouraged. That matters because commissioners and staff use the map to evaluate requests to change zoning and to target capital investments in sewer, roads and parks.

Steering committee chair Alex Sams told commissioners the map represents the committee's work, not staff's. "This is not staff's map. ... If you don't like the map, it starts with me," Sams said, repeatedly emphasizing that the committee aimed to reflect community input collected during 2023 and 2025 engagement events.

Mark Pichuk, a planning staff presenter, opened the technical explanation with a basic distinction: "What a future land use map is ... it…