Consultants update council on 'Elevate Goldsboro' land‑use plan; adoption targeted mid‑2026

City staff and Kimley‑Horn presented an update on Elevate Goldsboro, the city’s replacement for its 2035 comprehensive plan. Lead consultant Jonathan Whitehurst said the project is in the plan phase, which creates the future land‑use strategy and will feed into parcel‑level recommendations and an implementation strategy.

Whitehurst said outreach has produced roughly 400 touchpoints and about 4,700 individual data points and hundreds of written comments, and he described a three‑phase approach (Imagine → Plan → Act) that will culminate in a future land‑use map, policies and an implementation sequence. He said staff and the advisory committee have worked through guiding principles and a vision statement—"a plan for a thriving community, lasting investments in people, institutions and places"—and emphasized the need to keep the plan actionable rather than placing it on a shelf.

Council members asked about interpreting map classifications (commerce zones vs. neighborhood reinvestment), how flood‑zone overlays might be handled, and implications for areas near Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Whitehurst said classifications are high‑level and that parcel‑level analysis and policy framework will address overlays such as flood zones and noise/safety zones near the base.

Staff said the next steps are further work on the future land‑use strategy through December, drafting policies and actions in early 2026, documentation in spring, and Planning Board and council adoption hearings in June–July 2026.