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Coconino County releases draft comprehensive plan for 60-day public review; Flagstaff regional plan to follow
Summary
County planners presented a draft update to the Coconino County Comprehensive Plan, launched a 60-day public comment period and outlined next steps including fall public hearings and a potential May 2026 Flagstaff regional land use vote.
Coconino County staff presented a draft update of the county comprehensive plan and opened a 60-day public review window that runs through July 18, 2025.
Planning staff described a multi-year outreach process that began with scoping in January 2023, included 29 focus groups, a statistically valid follow-up telephone survey and creation of a 10-person advisory group to vet draft language. The update organizes the plan around three broad themes — quality rural lifestyle, stewardship of the natural environment and diverse communities and services — and streamlines the number of goals and policies compared with the 2015 plan. The draft includes a new focused chapter on housing and updated maps and community assessment reports intended to help future area or neighborhood plans.
Staff said the draft contains 58 goals and about 179 policies (reduced from 66 goals and 386 policies in the 2015 plan) and proposes 50 implementation actions, each cross-referenced to goals and policies. Among new technical materials, planners said they had prepared countywide water-demand projections using data from the Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Group; staff noted the state Department of Water Resources’ inventory remains a separate effort.
The planning division is holding several open houses and has placed print copies at remote library branches. Staff said they expect to bring the draft to the Planning & Zoning Commission for public hearings in the fall, with the Flagstaff regional land use plan — an amendment to the countywide plan — anticipated to appear on the Flagstaff ballot in May 2026 following local process.
Why it matters: the county comprehensive plan is the policy framework for land-use decisions across private lands in the county; the document guides zoning and subdivision decisions and provides a set of priorities that the board and staff use when evaluating development proposals and capital projects. Public comment during the 60-day review may prompt changes before hearings in the fall.
