Comprehensive & Area Plans

The Cochise County Comprehensive Plan is a blueprint, or guide, for the conservation and development of lands and land uses in the County. It promotes orderly and well-planned future development throughout the unincorporated areas of the County. The Comprehensive Plan was first adopted in 1984 and last revised in 2015.

Plan Categories

The Comprehensive Plan consists of policies, Growth Area Categories, Land Use Map Designations, Master Development Plans, and Community or Area Plans. Growth Category designations describe the existing and expected intensity of development of an area. They are as follows:

• Growth Category A - Areas immediately adjacent to, or surrounded by, incorporated cities that are anticipated to experience the most near-term growth
• Growth Category B - Areas adjacent to Category A Urban Growth Areas. It also encompasses larger unincorporated communities of the County, such as the Whetstone, St. David, and Hereford, 
• Growth Category C - Less populated rural areas that are characterized by a slow rate of growth and the desire to maintain the existing low-density residential or rural way of life
• Growth Category D - Outlying rural areas between cities and unincorporated communities characterized by a low rate of growth; unimproved roads; low density, large lot rural residential development; agricultural production; and large tracts of undeveloped private and public lands.

Community Plans

Community and area plans are included in the Comprehensive Plan and address the future growth of a specific community or region of the County. They offer an opportunity for citizens who live and work in an area to have a voice in the location, type, and intensity of growth in their community. Seven community plans have been adopted:

• Babocomari Community Plan
• Elfrida Community Plan
• Mid-Sulphur Springs Valley Area Plan (for an area surrounding Sunsites and Pearce)
• Naco Community Plan and Development Map
• Southern San Pedro Valley Area Plan (for an area south of Hereford Road)
• St. David Community Plan
• Tres Alamos Community Plan

These plans, which are based on long discussions with the community, are designed to support land uses that enhance and protect an area's unique character. Although existing zoning is not changed by the adoption of a plan or a revision to the Comprehensive Plan, staff, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the Board of Supervisors use community plans as a guide for making decisions on land-use changes.