Local Land Policy

In January 2025, a reshaped Greenville County Council voted to reconsider the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) adopted in December 2024 to help realize the vision of the county’s 2020 comprehensive plan. The UDO is the product of a four-year initiative to overhaul the county’s outdated zoning and land development regulations to better meet the needs of our growing county. In 2024, the county also launched a process to draft a county open space plan, as well as a five-year comp plan review. In early 2025, Council will begin the critical work of developing a new two-year county budget.

In the coming year, we’ll be advocating for Council to reinstall a largely intact, improved UDO that removes the two-year sunset clause for riparian buffer requirements and strengthens open space requirements for subdivisions in unzoned areas. We’ll also advocate for adoption of an open space plan with implementation strategies & timelines to ensure ample, equitable open space county-wide; a five-year comp plan update that strengthens the county’s vision for sustainable growth; and a county budget that supports open space, affordable housing, and public transportation at current or increased levels.

Additionally, we are engaging residents at a grassroots level and working with neighborhood leaders, with a focus on communities of color, to explore new strategies that ensure policy outcomes align with community goals.

We are cultivating support among residents for performance zoning policies that prevent sprawl and better protect agricultural & rural areas in Spartanburg County. In 2020, Performance Zoning replaced the county’s Unified Land Management Ordinance (ULMO) in the southwestern region of the county. In 2025, we are collaborating to explore strengthened overlay districts to better protect agricultural and rural areas in southwestern Spartanburg County.

Greenville City Council adopted the Greenville Development Code in June 2023 to ensure a new, more sustainable way of growing in the years ahead. In 2025, we are working to ensure that requirements and incentives to expand open space and affordable housing options, including the density bonus program, are working as intended. We are also advocating that the city’s five-year comp plan update supports a higher density urban form, expanded mobility & housing options, and ample, equitable open space & tree canopy.

In 2024, Fountain Inn City Council adopted its INNvision comprehensive plan and moved quickly to begin a process to overhaul zoning and land development regulations to help realize the community’s vision and goals. Throughout this process, we are advocating for policies that increase housing choice, enhance open space standards, protect tree canopy, and strengthen subdivision requirements & design guidelines.

We are monitoring, engaging, and encouraging citizens to actively participate in Plan This City, an initiative to create a new Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance (UDO). Our advocacy is focused on adoption of an actionable comprehensive plan that serves as a foundation to enact policies that reduce sprawl, including higher density urban forms, expanded mobility & housing options, and open space & tree canopy protections.

Plan Spartanburg, the new comprehensive plan adopted by Spartanburg City Council in 2023, is expected to guide an overhaul of the city’s land use policies in 2025-2026, especially existing zoning and land development regulations that perpetuate inequitable outcomes for people of color.

Our advocacy in 2025 is focused on ensuring policy updates that support more diverse housing choices, improved transportation options, and resiliency to move the city toward a more equitable, sustainable future.