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The Comprehensive Plan–Lafayette In A Century (LINC), can mean many things to different people, but the plan for Lafayette specifically is a process. It is not designed or intended to be a final answer to all questions, or to be the solution to all problems. LINC cannot and should not be interpreted as an inflexible final document or product. LINC is best viewed as a comprehensive, cooperative and coordinated ("three-C") process. It is intended to be both specific and general and short range and long range, depending on the items and issues involved and changes over time. LINC, as a policy statement, guides future development toward established goals. It is a design guide that establishes community objectives, principles and standards for public and private development, investment and implementation to achieve the desired services, facilities and quality of life concerns impacting Lafayette Parish and the metropolitan area.
The essential purpose of LINC is no less than a parishwide review of all geographical parts, legal divisions and functional elements that bear on the physical, social, economic, health and environmental concerns of the community. LINC always should be a consensus builder. Development of the parish is made daily by thousands of individual decisions of property owners, developers, homeowners, utilities, businesses, estates, institutions and federal, state and local governments. LINC can both facilitate and restrict how these independent actions come together to meet both short-term and the long-term community objectives. A new subdivision, a new shopping center, a new major arterial, a new park or a new school are generally considered long-term improvements and investments. These urban developments should be planned for permanence.
This plan is divided into 12 elements required by state law and/or identified by the Planning Commission. Each element (or LINC) focuses on a critical aspect of the urban environment. The Comprehensive Plan includes a brief inventory and summary of existing conditions for each of these elements, which are: Drainage, Utilities, Economic Development, Land-Use, Transportation, Recreation/Open Space, Cultural, Housing/Neighborhood, Urban Design, Public Services, Environmental and Special Area. These major elements, or LINCs, may be further divided into sub-LINCs for additional reference.
The Comprehensive Plan encompasses all of Lafayette Parish, which is divided into five Planning Districts based roughly on the attendance zones for the current public high schools: Acadiana, Carencro, Comeaux, Lafayette and Northside. It is not recommended that these Planning Districts change with the school attendance zones, but simply remain the permanent planning boundaries for the parish. These Districts were selected for their jurisdictional neutrality and centralized public meeting locations. It is anticipated and expected that plan elements may vary within each District.
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