Planning Initiatives and Documents

Five Year Comprehensive Plan Update Underway!

The 2015 Comprehensive Plan is approaching the midpoint of its ten year life span. The City is now reviewing and updating the plan as required by State law.

Please book mark this page to follow the agendas and results of the Planning Commission’s work on the update. Work on the Plan Update has resumed as the COVID Emergency recedes.

1) What is the Comprehensive Plan?

The Comprehensive Plan is the main guide for land use and community planning over a ten year period. It:

combines existing and projected conditions, best practices in planning, and the Plan Statement to develop goals and objectives.
lists specific implementation items.
directs the type, location, and scale of new development.
acts as a bridge between existing plans and policy documents.
protects community character and quality of life.
identifies community issues and weaknesses.

In South Carolina, the requirements of Comprehensive Plans are laid out in the SC Comprehensive Planning Act (SC Code Title 6, Chapter 29) which tasks the Planning Commission to develop and recommend the plan to the local governing body.

2) How often is the Comprehensive Plan updated?

The Comprehensive Plan is updated every five years and completely rewritten every ten years.

3) What are the goals of the 5 year update?

The five year update is meant to:

add new information related to the required elements (population, economic development, natural resources, cultural resources, community facilities, housing, land use, transportation, and priority investments).
review progress on current goals and implementation items.
add or remove goals and implementation items.
update land use maps.

4) Who should be involved?

The update should be as inclusive as possible and should include: residents, property owners, businesses, elected and appointed officials, outside agencies, and other stakeholders with an interest in the community. Everyone who lives in, works in, builds in, or visits Folly Beach should participate in the process.

5) What is the timeline?

The following is a proposed timeline and is subject to adjustment. Additional meetings may be added

June 2019 : Overview of the process, review of goal/objective progress, create web page: PC Agenda and Backup 6/3/19
July 2019: Review updates (provided by staff) to Introduction and Community Facilities narrative sections. Review Part One of survey. Draft Update Introduction, Draft Update Community Facilities, Current Plan Awareness and Priority Survey
August 2019 : Workshop with Department Heads on current goal progress/possible future goals. No minutes are kept for work sessions, but you can watch the recording here.
October 2019: Workshop on narrative revisions. Click to see Five Year Update Land Use and Five Year Update Population elements.
January 2020: Updates to Economic Element Five Year Update Economics.
September 2020: Post COVID kickoff.
February 2021: Updates to the Housing Element and outlined how the Reslience Element will be structured.
March 2021: Draft of the new Reslience Element was presented and updates to the Priority Investment Element. Commission voted to aprove the full draft narrative of the Comprehensive Plan Update. Survey is posted for public input on Comprehensive Plan Needs and Goals.
Next Steps: Planning Commission will review the survey results and update the Needs and Goals Section (April/May 2021). A recommendation from the Planning Commission will go to Council in June 2021 with a public hearing and finalization of the Five Year Comprehensive Plan Update in July 2021.