Highlands Regional Master Plan Overview

The Need: The Highlands Region covers less than one quarter of the State’s land, but provides drinking water for 65% of its residents.

While the Region’s forests and open spaces retain and filter large quantities of water, rapid development has increasingly transformed our communities and impaired nature’s ability to do its job. Meanwhile population is growing, spurring demand that is straining the natural resources, most critically the drinking water supply.

Families, farms, and businesses all depend on a steady supply of clean water. And since water resources do not follow municipal boundaries, we must take a regional approach to protection and conservation, as is provided by the Regional Master Plan.
Key Plan Issues: The Plan is designed to protect families, farmers, and businesses against water shortages, dry wells, and costly water treatment systems.

The Plan does not mandate growth and will serve to control sprawl. It promotes sustainable communities and agricultural viability. The Plan advances the establishment of a transfer of development rights program and calls for increased land preservation funding.

The Plan will be beneficial not only at the local level, but at all levels of government, and can serve to maximize the benefits of State and federal planning and financial investments in land and infrastructure.
Plan Implementation: Protection of the Highlands Region is best achieved through a combination of regional planning and local control of land use A fundamental aspect of the Plan, therefore, is the process by which local governments work collaboratively with the Council to adjust land use plans and development requirements to support the goals and requirements of the Plan.

The Act requires Preservation Area municipalities and counties to conform to the Plan Municipalities in the Planning Area have incentives to voluntarily conform to the Plan Considerable staff expertise and grants will be provided to the municipalities and counties in order to facilitate the process.

The significant incentives for municipalities to “opt-in” include a legal defense shield, the presumption of validity for the municipalities’ land use policies and decisions, guarding towns against costly lawsuits, and planning grants.