Project Info:

The Nellis Air Force Base Land Use and Facility Siting Guide takes a comprehensive approach to urban design emphasizing a holistic, practical approach with short-, mid-, and long-term goals for land use and facility development. This comprehensive plan derives and describes the preferred future land use scenario at Nellis AFB for a 25 year span. It bridges the gap between Air Force land use policy expressed in the Future Land Use Plan and its ground-level implications in Area Development Plans.

All development constraints, functional affinities and incompatibilities are captured and summarized in the plan, which is designed to apply abstract policies and guidelines to the actual land uses at Nellis AFB. It is then used to inform site-level Area Development Plans. The Area Development Plans suggest specific sitings, building sizes, parking arrangements, and other important amenities in the future built and landscaped environment. By combining two normally separate layers of analysis, the plan provides guidance to achieve Nellis AFB's development vision. It also provides the tools and framework to make effective planning, programming, design, construction, and resource management decisions.

Project Process:

Analyze Existing Land Use
Define the existing land use in order to form a foundation from which to plan for future development. The existing land uses were evaluated to identify potential functional conflicts, constraints, and development opportunities.

Understand Future Development Requirements
Evaluate what specific facilities would be required to successfully accomplish the anticipated future missions of the base. Along with those needs, the plan evaluates which existing facilities might need replacement within the timeframe of each development plan.

Propose a Future Land Use Model
Develop a future land use plan, given the existing land use issues and future requirements identified. This preliminary plan was used to determine the boundaries for the individual ADPs.

Develop Detailed Future Land Use Guidelines
Provide greater detail to the future land use plan by individually analyzing each land use area. Air Force and use policy is applied to each area, and the specific character, constraints, and best future uses are described in detail. This section is the key translation of Air Force policy to its site-level implications.

Design Area Development Plans
Based on the future land use model and guidelines, plan specific high-priority areas at a more meticulous scale to show specific building sizes and sitings, transportation networks, and key amenities and connections.

Project Features:

Iterative Approach
As the ADPs progressed, the future land use zones were refined to reflect siting decisions and on-the-ground constraints. The ADPs and future land use zones work together to form a supportable long range development and future land use plan.

Blend of Theory and Practice
Land use policy and ADP collaborate as a unified "zoning code" for the base. The ADPs in this plan were designed to accommodate change and flex with future growth by providing a holistic based policy driven model of the future land use vision. More emphasis was given to a solid land use planning policy as the way to guide future growth and reutilization of the land on base.

Electronic Publishing
The plan was produced in two formats, a traditional paper document and a web-based electronic document. The electronic version is easily updated to support change management and dissemination of the plan to all stakeholders. It also helps to ensure that the plan is continuously updated as changes occur.

Sustainable Design
The re-use of existing developed land, creating open spaces, and providing pedestrian amenities and pathways help to ensure a minimal footprint, while maintaining as much natural landscape as possible. Further, the concept of phased development within explicit land uses ensures that the needs of the present are met without compromising options for the future.