Welcome to the City of Punta Gorda Comprehensive Plan 2045!  Chapter 163 of the Florida Statutes requires all cities and counties in the state of Florida maintain a comprehensive plan providing a long-range (10 to 20 years) vision of future development.  The Florida Department of Economic Opportunities requires evaluations and updates to the comprehensive plan in a seven-year cycle, known as the Evaluation and Appraisal Review (EAR).  The City of Punta Gorda's Comprehensive Plan 2045 is a result of the recommendations from the last major evaluation of the City's 2025 Plan.

The City of Punta Gorda’s Comprehensive Plan is divided into thirteen (13) sections, briefly described below:

• The Future Land Use Element designates areas within the city suitable for residential, commercial, recreational, conservation, preservation, and public development.  It is considered the most important element of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. This element covers a planning timeframe of twenty years, provides future population projections, and defines level of service benchmarks.

• The Conservation Element inventories the city's natural preserves and conservation areas. It applies conservation strategies that benefit human health and are fiscally responsible. 

• The Coastal Management Element inventories and describes the city's existing coastal areas and explains their importance to the city’s economy. This element discusses how resilience measures can be applied through City policy.

• The purpose of the Infrastructure Element is to guide the provision of water and sewer, solid waste, and stormwater infrastructure to ensure these services are available to the community as it expands. The element is divided into three (3) sections:

1. The Potable Water and Sanitary Sewer Section outlines the City’s existing conservation programs, identifies additional future programs, and assesses their likelihood of success in decreasing the city’s potable water demand.
2. The purpose of the Solid Waste Section is to ensure that sanitation facilities and services are in place to provide for current and future residents. It also details the City’s curbside collection and disposal process for solid waste, recyclables, yard waste, and hazardous waste.
3. The Stormwater Management Section identifies the operating responsibilities of stormwater management facilities, geographic service areas, predominant types of land uses, the design capacity of the stormwater management facilities, current demand, and the level of service provided by the facilities.

• The Housing Element evaluates the city’s housing inventory and provides guidance in developing policies to meet the city’s housing needs.  The goals, objectives, and policies (GOPs) provide a complete range of housing options to include moderate, low, and very-low-income households, group homes, foster-care facilities, and households with special housing needs.

• The Recreation and Open Spaces Element provides for a system of public and private recreation and open space sites. Punta Gorda's long-term goals regarding recreation and open space are to coordinate public and private resources to meet demand; provide public parks that are appropriately located near the population they are intended to serve; coordinate the City facilities with those of other governments; and acquire important open-space systems that protect property from storm-surge events and/or preserve important habitats. 

• The Community Facilities and Services Element identifies and describes the locations and arrangements of the City’s facilities and the services provided. Facilities and services are considered the “social infrastructure”, integral to the city's quality of life. Included in this element are general government administration and operations, utilities, fire and emergency medical services, police, and all other City facilities and services.

• The Transportation Element assesses the needs for current and future transportation systems, establishes level of service guidelines, provides strategies for alternative modes of transportation, and sets standards for the provisions of public facilities.

• The Public School Facilities Element focuses on school planning.  This element requires local governments to adopt a school concurrency system that ensures coordination between the City, County, and School Board in planning and permitting development that affects school capacity and utilization rates. The Florida Statute mandating the Public School Facilities Element also requires the City to update their existing Interlocal Agreement (a partnership between the City, County and local School Board that establishes coordination efforts between the agencies) and requires amendments to the existing Capital Improvements Element and the Intergovernmental Coordination Element.

• The Intergovernmental Coordination Element facilitates the comprehensive planning process through the coordination of local development and growth management with Charlotte County, adjacent municipalities, and state and federal agencies. This element will coordinate the processes and procedures with the various entities to ensure compatibility. If incompatible goals, objectives, or policies are identified, then it is the intent of this element to develop and implement processes to assist in resolving such issues.

• Capital Improvement Element considers the need for and the location of public facilities in order to encourage the efficient use of those facilities.   The element:

1. Evaluates the need for public facilities within the city;
2. Estimates the cost of improvements for which the local government has fiscal responsibility;
3. Analyzes the fiscal capability of the local government to finance and construct improvements;
4. Guides the funding of improvements through adopted policies; and
5. Provides the schedule of funding and construction of improvements in a manner necessary to ensure that capital improvements are provided when required, based on the needs identified in the other comprehensive plan elements.

• The Historic Element considers the need for preserving and protecting the city’s past, which includes historical, architectural, maritime, and archaeological sites.   The element:

1. Furthers the city’s founder, Isaac Trabue’s, vision of preserving land along the harbor for the public;
2. Identifies historical, architectural, maritime, archaeological, and ecological sites of significance;         
3. Educates the population on the importance of historical preservation;      
4. Strengthens relationships with educational establishments; and
5. Utilizes vast resources as a catalyst for increasing economic development, cultural heritage and sustainable tourism.

• The purpose of the Property Rights Element is to:
  1. Identify specific property rights and state that local government will respect them;
  2. Identify the rights of people to participate in decisions that affect their lives and property and provide standards for local government decisions to be transparent in respect for this right; and
  3. Provide standards for local government decision-making to be reliable and predictable to promote sound, long-term investments in a community.