Planning commission workshop clarifies which comprehensive plan guides zoning changes

At a Nov. 8 planning-and-zoning workshop in Dickinson, commissioners sought clarity about which comprehensive plan should guide recommended changes to the Unified Development Code (UDC).

“Comprehensive plan. Do we have a comprehensive plan?” Councilmember Deborah Fortner asked early in the workshop, expressing uncertainty that other commissioners shared. Planner Travis located the plan on the city—s website and pointed to an ordinance showing the current comprehensive plan labeled the "Comprehensive Plan for 2045" and adopted in 2023.

The question mattered because commissioners repeatedly said the UDC must implement the comprehensive plan—s goals. Several commissioners, including Fortner and Philip Lipoma, argued the commission should identify the plan—s goals up front so map- and code changes follow the city—s stated policy direction rather than staff interpretation. Fortner said the commission needs the goals “because that—s what everything should be based on.”

Staff said the plan and a crosswalk of former-to-current zoning districts are available on the long-range planning pages of the city website and offered to bring a printed table showing recommended adjacent districts and the old versus new district names. Commissioners asked staff to extract the plan—s explicit goal statements and any ordinance citations that require conformity, and to surface sections that would require immediate attention when commissioners are reassigning parcels on the map.

Travis told the commission he would draft ordinance-language options that align the UDC with the adopted comprehensive plan and return with a focused set of amendments for the commission to recommend to council. No formal action was taken at the workshop; commissioners agreed to short follow-ups at upcoming P&Z meetings to review draft text and mapping changes.