The Navajo County Arizona’s 2050 Comprehensive Plan is an update to the county’s existing plan that hasn’t seen a major update since its original adoption in 2004. This plan included defining the existing conditions within the county, from demographic changes to public facilities and housing and environment, while collecting input from diverse stakeholders to craft land use policies that can be effectively administered and drive the County’s future prosperity. The adopted plan will include elements above and beyond what is required by the state and grouped by themes of progress, quality of life, and stewardship, all balancing a delicate relationship between the economy and the supporting natural environments resources and services.

Navajo County can expect the population to decline for the first time in over five decades and will continue downward at a modest rate for the next thirty-five years. Combined with an increase in residential building permits, the closure of mines and energy plants, federal incentives for energy transitions, critical workforce and age-dependence shifts, and feedback prioritizing the natural environment and recreation opportunities, Navajo County has a serious, delicate path carved out with thoughtfully devised land use policies sensitive to these economic, environmental, and demographic realities and forecasts.