Vision Glenwood

The City of Glenwood Springs has updated its Comprehensive Plan to re-establish the community's goals for the future and provide direction for decisions affecting the way we grow, move, play, live and work. The existing Glenwood Springs Comprehensive Plan Update 2023 was recently approved on March 16, 2023, an update of the 2011 Comprehensive Plan.

Why do we need to update the Comprehensive Plan?

A lot has changed in the past ten years. Because residents, workers and out-of-town guests alike value our scenic beauty and quality of life, the City and its elected officials are presented with the challenge of how to preserve and maintain these cherished attributes in the face of:

• increasing commercial and residential development pressures,
• the resulting traffic congestion, and
• the community's changing character.

This Update was tasked with analyzing what from the 2011 Plan has been accomplished, what new issues and priorities have arisen, and what new and innovative strategies can help us achieve our vision for a safe and inclusive community that values its cultural, historical and natural resources and provides opportunity for all.

What is a Comprehensive Plan?

Comprehensive Plans are required by state law to be used as a guide to decision making about the natural and built environment. The Comprehensive Plan includes City-wide policy on land use, transportation, housing, natural resources, economic development, and public facilities including public parks, recreation and trails. The Plan recommends how land should be used, but not when development should occur. This effort was an update to the past 2011 Comprehensive Plan, not a complete re-write. Some goals and strategies from the 2011 Plan still apply, while others simply were updated.