Amendments to the County's urban/rural boundary, as depicted on Exhibit FLU: Special Area Boundaries, may be considered only if all of the following standards are affirmatively met.

A. Demonstration of Need:

1. Are additional urban lands needed to accommodate population, housing or employment projected for the horizon year of this Plan?; or
2. Are additional lands required to support affordable housing or redevelopment goals of the County?; or
3. Are additional lands required to support economic development goals of the County?

B. Locational Analysis of Amendments:

1. Availability of facilities and services, and the orderly, efficient and cost effective provision of service; and
2. Fiscal capacity to provide adopted levels of service; and
3. Protection of environmental and natural resources

a. Analysis that the amendment would not negatively impact the interconnected system of wetlands/uplands that exist in the Rural area and provide a high quality mosaic of regional significance. This analysis must describe how the amendment protects the wetlands/uplands systems, including:

o Retaining the connectivity of wetlands;
o Retaining/Improving the ecological quality of wetlands; and
o Retaining the functional and structure values of the types of wetlands in the Rural Area

b. If amendment to the urban rural boundary is approved, developments shall avoid impact to wetlands to the maximum extent possible by utilization of clustering and other special techniques.

4. Contiguity to existing boundary and urban development patterns so as to discourage urban sprawl; and
5. Adequate transitions to maintain compatibility with adjacent, existing communities.

C. Mandatory Consistency with the Goals, Objectives and Policies of the Plan:
Any proposed amendment to the urban/rural boundary must undergo an assessment of consistency with applicable goals, objectives and policies of this Plan.

The above standards shall be evaluated by means of the preparation of needs analysis statements, economic impact statements, environmental impact statements, and land use compatibility analyses. If an amendment to the urban/rural boundary is adopted, the above referenced documentation shall be submitted as support documents relating to rural/urban area amendments.