Greenville needs a Unified Development Ordinance that lines up with the Comp Plan

Following adoption of a widely supported comprehensive plan early this year, Greenville County kicked off the process of drafting a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) to replace current zoning and land development regulations. One of the major goals of the UDO is to implement the shared community vision laid out in the comp plan for guiding future growth. 

It may come as a surprise just how uncommon it is for local Upstate governments to take the seemingly logical step of updating land development regulations once comp plans are adopted. Greenville County, like many Upstate jurisdictions, has adopted many plans over the years, but those plans have rarely been implemented through policy action.

When plans and policies are out of sync, it is confusing and frustrating to everyone — community members, government staff, elected officials, developers, and other stakeholders, especially after significant time, effort, and resources have been expended to create the plans in the first place.

If county leaders succeed in updating zoning and land development to enact the comp plan vision, it will be a tremendous step towards smarter growth management and away from the chaos that ensues when plans and policies are contradictory. 

Unfortunately, residents’ voices are often lost in the process of updating regulations, drowned out by the chorus of those that benefit from the status quo. 

Your voice is important in determining how Greenville grows! Hundreds of residents actively engaged in the process of developing the county’s future plan for growth. Now it is time to put that plan to action.  

If you want to see the Greenville Comp Plan enacted through policy, please take five minutes to contact your council member and tell them: 

• We need a UDO that lines up with the vision laid out in the Comp Plan.
• Rural areas must have a means of protection from rampant suburban-style residential sprawl.
• We should steer growth to areas that already have the infrastructure to support it. 
• The UDO must shift away from our current sprawling pattern of growth, which is fiscally irresponsible and eats up too much land, too quickly.

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