What is the difference between the Comprehensive Plan and the Zoning Ordinance?
The plan generally guides land use and is an advisory document. The Zoning Ordinance is part of the County Code and regulates the type, scale and intensity of development which may occur in the specific zoning districts. To fully understand how a parcel of land can be used, you first need to know how the land is planned in the Comprehensive Plan, and then determine how the land is zoned. Just as changing the Plan for a parcel of land requires Plan amendment, changing the zoning for that parcel requires a rezoning application.
