Comprehensive Planning

The City of West Palm Beach Comprehensive Plan is a mechanism for guiding future growth and development within the City of West Palm Beach. This plan complies with State of Florida statutes, requiring all local governments to prepare and maintain a long-range comprehensive plan that will guide future growth and development. (Florida Statutes: chapter 163, Part 2.)

One of the functions of the Comprehensive Planning Section is to work on different aspects of transportation planning for the City, including to:

• Administer, interpret, and implement the Transportation Element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan

• Provide technical assistance on transportation planning to City officials, the general public, special interest groups and other agencies  

• Derive and develop transportation policies, programs, codes, and services to further the City’s Transportation Vision

• Draft transportation policies and related codes

• Assist in the implementation of the City’s Transportation Demand Management (TDM) and mobility efforts.

• Utilize transportation principles to research, develop, and update elements of the City’s Comprehensive Plan

• Lead through liaison, communication, research and work with other departments, community groups, levels of government, local to national organizations, and the general public

• Represent the City on various transportation and related boards and committees and at transportation meetings.

Chapter 163.3191 of the Florida Statutes indicates that, at least once every seven (7) years, each local government shall evaluate its Comprehensive Plan to determine if plan amendments are necessary to reflect changes in state requirements since the last update, and notify the state land planning agency as to its determination.

The statutes also specify that if the local government determines amendments to its Comprehensive Plan are necessary to reflect changes in state requirements, the local government shall prepare and transmit within one (1) year such plan amendment(s) for review.  This collective process is called the Evaluation and Appraisal Review (EAR). 

The City’s last EAR took place in 2023 and resulted in a series of amendments to the different elements and maps of the Comprehensive Plan, which were then adopted in March of 2024.  For the most part, the EAR-based amendments to the City of West Palm Beach’s Comprehensive Plan were intended to:

• Reflect changes in State requirements or legislation;

• Clarify the language in the policies for ease of understanding;

• Combine or eliminate similar or redundant policies;

• More accurately reflect current practices, processes or conditions; and

• Update outdated references or definitions.