What Is Conceptual Master Plan

Osceola County is a place of promising opportunity, which is reflected in its steady growth and ongoing demand for new housing, employment areas, and community centers. To ensure that new growth captures the community's vision for the area, the County adopted the Osceola County Comprehensive Plan in 2007. The Comprehensive Plan sets forth the policy guidance to maintain the area's high quality of life and promote a sustainable environment and economy far into the future.

The Comprehensive Plan particularly addresses new growth areas surrounding the urban core. Eleven Mixed-Use Planning Districts comprise the Urban Expansion Area within the Urban Growth Boundary of the County, and will accommodate most of the new development occurring here. However, while the Comprehensive Plan sets forth general policy guidance for growth, it is the role of Conceptual Master Plans for each Mixed-Use District to provide specific design and implementation recommendations.

According to the Comprehensive Plan, a Conceptual Master Plan for each of the Mixed-Use Districts must be developed to "explore a range of build-out opportunities and their relationship to the size and form of future centers, the layout and interconnectedness of future transportation networks, and the spatial arrangement of the mix of uses with the intent of maximizing internal trip capture Future Land Use Element, Policy 1.1.9."

The County strives to achieve a quality growth development pattern "that makes efficient use of the developable land; optimizes urban services and infrastructure, uses innovative mixed-use planning techniques; promotes a wide variety of transportation and housing options; absorbs and effectively serves a significant portion of the future population growth of Osceola County and Central Florida, protects the architectural and environmental character of the County through compatible, high quality and environmentally sensitive development practices, and helps provide a distinct separation of urban and rural land uses Future Land Use Element, Objective 1.2: Sustainable Development."

The development of Conceptual Master Plans for the South Lake Toho, Northeast, and East of Lake Toho Districts was a collaborative approach between County staff, the public and local decision makers to ensure the charges of the Osceola County Comprehensive Plan. High standards for sustainability and quality growth will guarantee that the County continues to be a major destination for new businesses, families, and tourists.