FAQs

The Growth Management Policy designates Albemarle County's Rural Area (currently about 95% of the county's land area) and Development Areas (currently about 5% of the county's land area). The Policy has been included in every Albemarle County Comprehensive Plan since the first Comp Plan in 1971.

The purpose of the Growth Management Policy is to provide efficient and cost-effective public service delivery and encourage compact, connected, and dense development patterns and uses within the Development Areas. The Growth Management Policy guides land use decisions, capital projects, and public service provision. 

A Future Land Use Map (often abbreviated as FLUM) is a planning policy tool that shows the desired future land uses in a locality. Every property is assigned a future land use category. The FLUM does not necessarily reflect current conditions. For example, the FLUM may show the future land use of a property as mixed-use, but today the property may be a single office building with a parking lot.

The FLUM guides future development by providing a set of recommendations on use type (Commercial, Mixed-Use, Industrial, Residential, Rural, etc.) and residential density (in units per acre) that planners and local officials use to inform land use decisions and infrastructure planning. Part of the rezoning and special use permit review process includes comparing a development application with the recommended future land uses per the Comp Plan.

A FLUM is not a legal document, unlike the Zoning Ordinance, but is still necessary in the development review process to ensure that a proposed development is consistent with the vision of the Comprehensive Plan. The FLUM does not affect existing developments and does not require a property owner to change the use of their land.

Activity Centers are locations in the Development Areas that are mixed-use, dense, and walkable destinations, either now or in the future. They range in scale from Local Centers (e.g. a neighborhood with several stores) to Regional Centers (e.g. an area with shops, restaurants, apartments, a movie theater, and a plaza).

Activity Centers act like a land use overlay to encourage a higher intensity of development, as compared with the underlying future land uses. They also help prioritize public projects and investments.