Jacksonville 2045 Comprehensive Plan

The Jacksonville 2045 Comprehensive Plan is a policy document required by Florida Statutes Chapter 163 and Chapter 650 of the Jacksonville Code of Ordinances (City of Jacksonville).

It sets out the long and short-term goals directing the programs and policies that guide growth and development, and its stated goal is to promote the public health, safety and welfare. The Jacksonville plan has 11 elements: Capital Improvements, Conservation Coastal Management, Future Land Use, Historic Preservation, Housing, Infrastructure, Intergovernmental Coordination, Public School Facilities, Recreation and Open Space, Transportation, and Property Rights (Comprehensive Plan Elements). The online version adds an Introduction, Definitions and a Map Series.

The Land Use Section of the Community Planning Division manages and updates the plan, reviews land use map and zoning requests for consistency with the 2045 Comprehensive Plan, and also administers the Jacksonville Manatee Protection Plan and the city Brownfields Program (Community Planning Division).

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the City of Jacksonville website.

Jacksonville's plan carries the 2045 name from Ordinance 2022-641, which a 2022 council notice describes as amending the 2030 plan to extend its planning timeframe to 2045 and rename it (City Council LUZ notice).

Florida requires the review: at least once every 7 years, each local government shall evaluate its comprehensive plan to decide whether amendments are needed (section 163.3191, Florida Statutes). According to that 2022 notice, Jacksonville's Evaluation and Appraisal Report was approved by Resolution 2019-255-A, and Ordinance 2022-641, introduced by the council president at the mayor's request, proposed EAR-based text amendments to the plan's elements, definitions and map series to extend the horizon from 2030 to 2045 and rename the document the 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The notice scheduled a Land Use and Zoning Committee workshop on the ordinance for Tuesday, October 4, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. in the Lynwood Roberts Room of City Hall, 117 W. Duval St. (City of Jacksonville).

The statute also sets a penalty that would apply to Jacksonville as to any Florida city. A local government that fails to send the state its evaluation letter, or fails to transmit the needed update within a year, may not initiate or adopt publicly initiated plan amendments until it complies, though the prohibition does not apply to privately initiated amendments (section 163.3191).

A Jacksonville land use amendment starts as an application to the Planning Department, goes to the Planning Commission and the council Land Use and Zoning Committee, and is decided by the City Council, with state review for larger changes (Planning Commission).

Florida law lets a small scale development amendment be adopted when the proposed amendment involves a use of 50 acres or fewer and proposes only a land use change, not a text change to the plan's goals, objectives and policies (section 163.3187, Florida Statutes). Other adopted amendments follow the expedited state review process unless they fall in the categories that need state coordinated review, such as an update based on an evaluation and appraisal (section 163.3184, Florida Statutes). On the Jacksonville notices page, small scale application numbers end in C and large scale numbers end in A.

The Jacksonville Planning Commission reviews proposed land use changes and text changes to the Comprehensive Plan and serves as the local planning agency under section 163.3174 that prepares the plan (City of Jacksonville). Its page lists meetings 2 times per month on the Thursday after the LUZ Committee, though times and places can change. Its posted notice sets the next public meeting for Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. in Hearing Room 1002 on the first floor of the Edward Ball Building, 214 North Hogan Street, with Michael McGowan as chair (Planning Commission).

On October 15, 2026 the Jacksonville Land Use Notices page listed 12 small scale map amendments, 2 large scale map amendments and 2 text amendments to the 2045 Comprehensive Plan awaiting hearings (Land Use Notices).

Each Jacksonville application file, with the Planning Department report, is open to public inspection at the department and at the City Council Division of Legislative Services, and public input may be submitted to the department before the staff report recommendation is released (City of Jacksonville).

Applicants are required to post and maintain signs at intervals of approximately 200 feet along all public streets, or on the nearest street right-of-way with a direction and distance to the site when there is no street frontage, and the city asks residents to notify the department if signs are not posted. Questions about any listed file go to the Jacksonville Planning Department at 904-255-7800 (Land Use Notices).

Besides the Jacksonville City Council, the plan is shaped by the Planning Department's Community Planning Division, the Planning Commission and six Citizens Planning Advisory Committees (Planning Department).

The Community Planning Division is responsible for the Comprehensive Plan, land use amendments, Developments of Regional Impact and historic preservation, while the Transportation Planning Division coordinates land use and transportation issues related to land development through elements of the Comprehensive Plan, as well as the city's overall mobility needs (City of Jacksonville). The division chief, Susan Kelly, is listed at the Ed Ball Building, 214 N. Hogan Street, Suite 300, Jacksonville, FL 32202, phone (904) 255-7837 (Community Planning Division).

Jacksonville's more than 200 neighborhoods are divided into six planning districts, each with a Citizens Planning Advisory Committee that is meant to maintain open and effective communication between residents, businesses, neighborhoods, community organizations, educational institutions and city government. The six districts are Urban Core, Greater Arlington/Beaches, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest and North (CPAC page). The Planning Commission also seats members by planning district, with at-large seats and alternates. Its city page is internally inconsistent, listing Total Members: 9 while stating the mayor makes 12 appointments, and its roster shows the Planning District 5 seat vacant (Planning Commission).

The full 2045 Comprehensive Plan is posted element by element on the City of Jacksonville website, and Community Planning offers support at [email protected] for anyone who has trouble accessing or viewing it (Comprehensive Plan Elements).

To weigh in on a Jacksonville amendment, a resident can send comments to the Planning Department before the staff report comes out, submit written testimony to the City Council Division of Legislative Services, or speak at the public hearings (Land Use Notices). The city also posts legal notes on how Future Land Use Map amendments are judged, under the headings Criteria upon Which FLUM Amendment is Evaluated and Council Decision Based, Legislative versus Quasi-judicial Functions of Local Government, and Burden of Proof; Evidence and Testimony.

The Planning Department takes calls about pending applications at 904-255-7800 (Land Use Notices), and the Planning Commission meets on the Thursday after the council Land Use and Zoning Committee (Planning Commission).