A comprehensive plan outlines actions a community should take and gives guidance for making both simple and complex decisions. The plan-making process involves preparing materials to support decisions. The decision-making process involves making choices based on the plan. The format of a comprehensive plan includes various parts directed at specific substantive areas. The parts may include text, maps, charts and other features.
Comprehensive plans are policy-oriented.
A implementation section that outlines the steps needed to implement, monitor and update the plan. Every community may not need to include all these elements. Each plan must reflect the unique circumstances of the community. Although they may be developed separately, each component should reflect the fact that the parts of the plan are inter related. For example, decisions made regarding new streets and roads will have an impact on future land use patterns, which will have an impact on proposed commercial and recreational developments and so on.