Regional Comprehensive Planning

Regional Plans

Regional Plans are a guide for future decision making that address critical regional issues and opportunities and provide a framework for advancing the state's planning goals.  Regional Plans are also wider in scope than local plans, and deal with broader issues that involve a variety of entities, including state and federal agencies, local governments and private organizations.  Each of Georgia’s twelve Regional Commissions develops a regionally-specific plan, which must be approved by DCA and adopted by its Regional Council.

The Georgia Planning Act, O.C.G.A. 50-8-1, et seq, gives DCA the authority to establish standards and procedures for appropriate and timely regional planning by all Regional Commissions in Georgia. Those standards and procedures are embodied in the rules known as the 'regional planning requirements'. In order to remain eligible for state funding programs, each Regional Commission must prepare, adopt, maintain, and implement a regional plan that meets these planning requirements.

In order to remain eligible for state funding programs, each Regional Commission must prepare, adopt, maintain, and implement a regional plan. In accordance with DCA’s Standards and Procedures for Regional Planning (“Regional Planning Requirements,” Chapter 110-12-6, Effective 2017), a regional plan is required to be updated every five years. In addition, annual updates to the implementation program component of the regional plan are required.

View Adopted Regional Plans.

Regional Resource Plans

Regional Commissions also prepare a Regional Resource Plan that systematically identifies regionally important resources in each region and recommends best practices for use in managing these important resources. Find more information on the Regionally Important Resources page.

View Regional Resource Plans.

Integrating Hazard Mitigation and Land Use Planning

DCA's Office of Planning used grant funds from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development  Disaster Recovery Enhancement Fund (DREF) for activities and products intended to help local governments and regional commissions prepare for future disaster mitigation and resilience. These activities focused on disaster mitigation education and promoting consistency between local plan and regional plan documents for hazard mitigation and for land use. 

Click on the following links for tools and resources for achieving this consistency: Land Use and Hazard Mitigation Reports.