Braselton Comprehensive Plan

Description:

TSW led a consultant team to create the Town of Braselton’s recent comprehensive plan update. Braselton is a unique case study in that it is located between four different counties and does not levy residential property taxes. Despite limited funding, Braselton has been able to fund and construct key catalytic projects such as their downtown parking deck, Town Green, and soon-to-be-constructed civic center. The town has also seen a lot of downtown redevelopment and new residential development in the last five years.

The scope of this comprehensive plan update was to:

• Create a 20-year policy document that guides the future growth of the Town and promotes
  the needs, goals, and objectives of the community.
• Update the Character Area plan and future land use map;
• Add to the existing transportation plans;
• Develop economic development strategies; and
• Look at potential zoning code updates

The planning process involved an extensive public outreach effort with stakeholder interviews, a community input survey, two public meetings, one pop-up event to gather input and advertise the upcoming draft plan open house, and regular meetings with a 40-person steering committee. Between all these efforts, it is estimated that around 500 people were reached.

The comprehensive plan update created a more defined vision for the Town of Braselton using the results of analyses, observations, and public inputs. Through public input alone, seven key goals were developed pertaining to land use, transportation, community facilities and services, housing, parks and green infrastructure, economic and business development, and community leadership. At the heart of the plan update was the Town’s desire to rewrite their zoning ordinance. The comprehensive plan sought to set up the rewrite by clearly specifying future land uses and housing policies, completing a brief audit of the zoning ordinance to highlight key issues, and creating objectives for the zoning rewrite itself. The Town’s Character Area map was edited to increase the number of character area designations to reflect both recent development and desired development patterns; policies to fulfill each goal were developed for each area to increase the map’s effectiveness. A small area plan was created for downtown Braselton to guide development until a new downtown master plan could be written. TSW identified 11 new projects to be added to the Town’s existing capital improvement program and short term work program. Overall, the plan has 40 projects totaling over $43 million to be completed through the year 2025.