The District Plan

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

In an innovative collaboration, Adams County and the City of Brighton developed a district plan (The District Plan) that encourages smart growth, sustainability, innovative economic development, agritourism, and farmland preservation. The plan promotes agritourism through a new land use category, Local District Mixed Use, which encourages food cultivation (and food systems) and processing alongside compatible mixed use development. Implementation activities are already underway, including establishing a joint District Plan implementation citizen commission, the funding of a joint employee to carry out the Plan’s action items (Ag Innovation Specialist), and the acquisition and preservation of prime farmland by the City of Brighton. Additional implementation activities include preliminary work to develop a joint new zone district to compliment the Local District Mixed Use future land use category, evaluation of a multi-jurisdictional transfer of development rights (TDR) program, Adams County’s new employee community supported agriculture pilot program utilizing farms in the District Plan area, implementation tours for elected officials and legislators, and other supportive policies and programs both in the City of Brighton and county-wide.