Planning & Development

City of Milton: Smart Growth
The City of Milton embraces many of the principles of Smart Growth utilized to help communities develop in an orderly and harmonious fashion. The basic principles include:

  1. Mix Land Uses
  2. Take Advantage of Compact Design
  3. Create a Range of Housing Opportunities and Choices
  4. Create Walkable Communities
  5. Foster Distinctive, Attractive Areas with a Strong Sense of Place
  6. Preserve Open Space, Natural Beauty, and Critical Environmental Areas
  7. Strengthen and Direct Development toward Existing Neighborhoods
  8. Provide for multi-modal Transportation Options
  9. Make Development Decisions Predictable, Fair, and Cost Effective and Review Submittals in an Expeditious Fashion
  10. While Encouraging Collaboration

The city has worked diligently to incorporate these principles into its ordinances, policies, and comprehensive plan. One of the pillars of the city’s smart growth policy involves focusing on development along 3 primary transportation corridors, while working to preserve open space and existing residential neighborhoods. This is accomplished through the application of a transportation corridor overlay.

Other overlays achieve similar objectives while providing well defined zoning and land-use policies and plans that guide development for specific projects, neighborhoods and the community as a whole.

How Growth Becomes Smart
Growth is “smart” when it creates attractive communities with housing, transportation options, jobs, shops, services and schools. Milton has been approaching growth management in this fashion for almost a decade. We employ smart growth strategies in an attempt to change the image of the community in a positive way. We do this work in conjunction with others from government agencies, to developers, environmentalists, historic preservation advocates, professional organizations and interests from the real estate industry.

This approach is good for the local economy, the environment and the people who live and work here. It is those that we seek to assist each day as we work to make Milton the community where, “Good Living Flows."

About the Planning & Development Department
The Department is responsible for planning and zoning, code enforcement, construction inspections and works closely with a variety of City Committee’s that guide development, housing and redevelopment for the City of Milton. Many projects that come before the city for review are presented to one or more boards or committees for recommendation to the City Council.

Our department works to ensure that new construction and additions to existing structures meet the policies and guidelines that have been established for public safety, zoning and development. Some of the planning committees and boards include:

  • Board of Adjustment (BOA)
  • Community Improvement Board (CIB)
  • Housing Work Group
  • LEAP Committee
  • Historic Preservation Board (HPB)
  • Milton Planning Board (MPB)
  • Technical Review Committee (TRC)

The Department is also involved with special events, regional planning, and open space / recreational activity programming.

Core Values
The Planning and Development Department believes in:

  • A team oriented approach
  • Creative thinking in problem solving
  • Customer Service
  • Effective communication between all Departments and levels of staff
  • Enthusiasm for its work
  • Integrity
  • Mutual respect for all
  • Professionalism
  • State-of-the-art technology to improve our work product