Please click on the link below to view the official version of the 2009 Richland County Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan, dated 12/15/09, has been approved by County Council.

The Comprehensive Plan is organized into nine Elements. The nine Elements are Population, Housing, Cultural Resources, Natural Resources, Economic Development, Transportation, Priority Investment, Community Facilities, and Land Use. Each Element includes an inventory of existing County conditions, a statement of needs and goals, as well as implementation strategies to achieve these goals.

The overall goals of the Plan evaluate how the population is growing and changing, identifying where people live, work, in addition to identifying and protecting the County’s natural and cultural resources. Furthermore, the Comp Plan addresses issues of land use in an effort to accommodate changes to the population, housing, and economy.

The Planning Department held two rounds of meetings to receive public input. The First Round of meetings (Jan 28 – Feb 25) introduced the draft Comprehensive Plan to the public. Comments received at these workshops have been incorporated into a Response Document in which staff addressed each comment. Many of these suggestions were incorporated into the new draft for the second round of public workshops on the Comprehensive Plan (March12- April15). From the last round of workshops additional citizen input has been incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan before the final draft was presented and approved by County Council.

Richland County is utilizing the Comprehensive Plan 10 Year Future Land Use Map, as part of the Land Use Element of the 2009 Comprehensive Plan.

If there are any questions or concerns please contact our office at (803)-576-2172 or delaget@rcgov.us.

Fort Jackson/McEntire Joint Land Use Study (JLUS)
The Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) is an ongoing effort between the US Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, South Carolina National Guard, South Carolina Air National Guard, Central Midlands Council of Governments, Richland County, the City of Columbia, Kershaw County, Fort Jackson, McCrady Training Center, and McEntire Joint National Guard Base to identify solutions to suburban encroachment around the County’s military installations. The 2009 Richland County Comprehensive Plan references the JLUS, and in concurrence with the City of Columbia, and recommendations from the DoD, has placed a buffer on the Future Land Use Map around Fort Jackson, McCrady Training Center, and McEntire Joint National Guard Base. The buffer is there to help identify areas around the base that could be affected by noise, smoke, or other issues associated with military training and the mission of the installations. It is not the intent of the JLUS to discourage growth and development but rather to create a balance between the needs of the military and the needs of the surrounding communities.

The Fort Jackson/ McEntire Joint Land Use Study document is a guide for local government and the military. Any recommended policies outlined in the JLUS document would have to be enacted as a county ordinance and go through the public hearing process. The final JLUS recommendations are now available as a PDF at JLUS. For additional information please visit www.jacksonjlus.com.