Department of Community Development
Reference: Comprehensive Plan Draft Update
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of the City Council
Chair Mark Rawlings and Members of the Planning Commission
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared by: Summer McCann, AICP, Senior Planner
Amanda Diaz, Associate Planner
Hampton Moore, Planning Technician
Date Prepared: July 26, 2026
PURPOSE
Update the City Council and the Planning Commission on progress made on the Comprehensive Plan draft.
PROCESSES
Per the Land Use and Development Code Section 1.03B, the Planning Commission is responsible for overseeing long range planning and the Comprehensive Plan decisions and recommendations. The Comprehensive Plan is also subject to ratification by City Council. For long range cooperative purposes, we are facilitating joint planning sessions to understand all recommendations and decisions pertaining to the Comprehensive Plan.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN DRAFT
The Comprehensive Plan draft was created from multiple rounds of community engagement, joint study sessions with Planning Commission and City Council, and discussions with technical staff and interested third parties. Staff and Design Workshop, the consultant, have completed three rounds of community engagement. These engagement windows included surveys, open houses, pop up events and flyers to engage the community in the Comprehensive Plan process. The goal of public engagement efforts was to understand community values, vision, and concerns for the future of Brighton. In addition, meetings were held with internal departments, adjacent government staff, and external service providers who have an interest in the future of Brighton to understand a wide range of perspectives in relation to the Comprehensive Plan.
The opportunities summarized below were advertised through a variety of channels, including email notifications sent to referral agencies, emails sent to individuals registered in our land use and permitting systems, flyers distributed throughout Brighton, outreach to HOAs, metro districts, and other community groups, social media posts, and inclusion in citywide newsletters.
Community Engagement Window #1 - The focus for the first outreach window was to understand how community values have changed since the previous Comprehensive Plan was completed. This first window helped notify the public about the Comprehensive plan process and sought input on new core values based on current and future needs, understanding land use preferences, and priorities expressed from the public. In this window, a public community questionnaire and focused statistically valid survey were both conducted. In addition, the advisory committee was formed, a focus group meeting was held, and the first open house was conducted at the Brighton Recreation Center. Staff also participated in numerous pop-up events such as the Tree Lighting Festival, the Parade of Lights, and a Spanish-speaking book club at Anythink Library. Over 14,000 mailers were sent for the statistically valid survey resulting in 429 responses, 258 respondents participated in the questionnaire, and twenty people attended the first open house.
Community Engagement Window #2 - The focus for the second outreach window was to have community members participate in scenario planning to understand the values and concerns with land uses throughout Brighton. Three workshops were conducted during the day where participants played a scenario planning chip game to show where different land uses should be located. In total, 36 community members attended and participated in the scenario planning exercise. An open house occurred in the evening after the workshop sessions were completed. This open house was designed for community members to provide similar feedback to the scenario planning game and asked residents how they would like to see various land uses balanced in Brighton. The open house was attended by 75 community members. There was an Advisory Committee meeting where scenario planning was the main focus and point of discussion. Last, a community questionnaire was offered to those who couldn’t attend the workshops or open house and 107 responses were collected.
Community Engagement Window #3 - The most recent community engagement window was focused on receiving feedback for the draft Future Land Use Map (FLUM) and future priorities for the City of Brighton. Staff attended Summerfest, conducted an open house at the Armory, and published an online questionnaire. Loteria, a game similar to bingo, was played at both the open house and Summerfest to understand residents’ priorities while also educating them on the impacts of each choice. Each participant chose between sixteen pairs of options such as “Bigger Yards = More Water & Cost” vs “Smaller Yards = Less Water & Cost” or “More Development = More Amenities” vs. “Less Development = Same Amenities as Today.” For the open house, 35 participants attended and provided feedback on the FLUM draft. Another Advisory Committee was held and discussion included review of the draft Future Land Use Map and development priorities. Lastly, a community questionnaire was available online and had 230 respondents.
Comprehensive Plan Draft
The Comprehensive Plan Draft is broken down into ten chapters and an Executive Summary. The Executive Summary provides a quick guide to readers regarding how to use plan, the importance and core values to the City of Brighton.
The ten chapters are listed below and provide background to how the development vision for Brighton was created through public engagement, meetings with technical staff, and discussions with elected and appointed officials.
1. Chapter One - Introduction and Community Context
2. Chapter Two - Trends and Factors Shaping the City of Brighton’s Future
3. Chapter Three - Community Vision and Core Values
4. Chapter Four - Strategic Growth and Future Land Use
5. Chapter Five - Housing and Neighborhoods
6. Chapter Six - Parks, Open Space and Environment
7. Chapter Seven - Economic Development and Placemaking
8. Chapter Eight - Water Supply Element
9. Chapter Nine - Community Services and Infrastructure
10. Chapter Ten - Implementation Framework
One of the most important aspects of a Comprehensive Plan is the Implementation Matrix to ensure the plan guides development with the community vision in mind. The matrix is divided in five key strategies which support the core values created from a combination of public input, technical staff, and direction from elected and appointed officials.
There are several subgoals to support Brighton with implementation of these five key strategies. The Comprehensive Plan provides a roadmap for implementation which includes plan, prioritize, implement, monitor and adapt. Over time, it will be important for staff and elected and appointed officials to review these strategies and prioritize particular goals, implement them, and monitor their progress. These strategies can adapt with amendments during the life of the plan, providing flexibility to developers, residents and elected and appointed officials.
Five Key Strategies
1. Policies and Regulations
2. Infrastructure
3. Housing Options
4. Economic Development
5. Parks, Recreation, and Open Space
CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS
The Comprehensive Plan draft represents the culmination of extensive public engagement, coordination with technical staff and partner agencies, and direction provided by the Planning Commission and City Council throughout the planning process. Staff is continuing to make edits to improve formatting, graphics, and overall document quality. These changes are not expected to substantially affect the draft's content.
The next step is to share the draft Comprehensive Plan with the public for review and comment. Staff will consider public feedback and make any necessary revisions before finalizing the plan.
Staff is seeking feedback from the Planning Commission and City Council on whether the draft Comprehensive Plan is ready to be released for public review, with the understanding that minor updates will continue before publication. Staff is also seeking direction on whether, following consideration and incorporation of public feedback, the Comprehensive Plan should be brought back for adoption in accordance with the process outlined above.
ATTACHMENTS
● Staff PowerPoint Presentation
● Community Engagement Window #3 Summary
● Comprehensive Plan 80% Draft