Planning

The Comprehensive Planning Division manages several processes that relate to long-term land-use policies for the city. These processes are detailed below.

Services

All Planning Services

2030 Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan is a long-range document that establishes a vision for the City, provides policy guidance for growth and development, and contains action items to implement. Comprehensive Planning prepares an annual report on the past year’s actions, and how these actions align with Comprehensive Plan policies. Comprehensive Planning also manages resident and city-initiated amendments to the Comprehensive Plan. Learn more about the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. Learn more about the Comprehensive Plan.

Annexation & ETJ
The City of Raleigh regularly uses two methods of annexation which consist of voluntary or petition annexation and involuntary or city-initiated annexation. Learn more about Annexation & ETJ.

Demographics
Raleigh is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country. A great economy, top educational institutions, and outstanding health care facilities are what attract people to the triangle area. Learn more about Demographics.

Rezoning
The rezoning process amends the official zoning map. Comprehensive Planning staff analyze rezoning requests for consistency with the adopted plans and policies of the 2030 Comprehensive Plan and provide a report to Planning Commission and City Council for rezoning decisions. Learn more about Rezoning.

Small Area Planning
Small Area Plans look at issues in specific geographic locations and provide policy recommendations and actions that are more specific than the city-wide policies and actions provided in the 2030 Comprehensive Plan. These policies and recommendations are adopted and added to the Specific Area Guidance section of the Comprehensive Plan. Learn more about Small Area Planning.