week of 2/27/02
 
 
 

A new tool set to help cope with growth
SMN
States and local governments now have a new tool available to help combat urban sprawl, protect farmland, promote affordable housing, and encourage redevelopment. And with all the growth and development pressures facing Western North Carolina, help of any kind is welcome.

The American Planning Association (APA) recently released the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change, 2002 Edition.

The Guidebook and its accompanying User Manual are the culmination of APA's seven-year Growing Smart project intended to offer modern planning reform options.

“Every political barometer — polls, legislation, executive orders, budget proposals, and ballot initiatives — indicates that planning reform and smart growth are major state issues,” said W. Paul Farmer, APA executive director. “Planning is essential to achieving smart growth, and the Growing Smart project helps states replace outdated laws and find solutions to issues facing them.”

The core of the Guidebook’s utility is the variety of statutory options provided for states and communities to pick and choose from. Modern day examples illustrate the pros and cons of legislative alternatives and offer strategies for community involvement and successful implementation.

The guidebook includes chapters about a wide range of state, regional, and local planning issues such as regional tax-base sharing, innovative land-use options, incentive systems, traditional neighborhood development, affordable housing, farmland and historic preservation, economic redevelopment, and tax increment financing. The guidebook contains provisions and commentary on establishing a state biodiversity conservation plan and on integrating state environmental policy acts into local comprehensive planning. The guidebook shows how to streamline local development permit review practices, making them less cumbersome and more predictable for the average citizen.

The user manual helps those interested in planning reform navigate through the guidebook and, by means of checklists and case studies, select from the options available in the guidebook and tailor a program that will meet the unique needs of their state.

In conjunction with the guidebook’s release, APA is issuing a new national report that shows that smart growth measures are most successful in states where planning statutes have been modernized. The report, Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of the States, finds that in many cases outdated planning laws are preventing states from effectively implementing smart growth measures to address urban sprawl, scattered rural development, farmland protection and other issues.

(The Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook and companion User Manual may be ordered in hard copy through APA’s Planners Book Service. Accompanying them is a CD-ROM containing the full text of both publications ($20). Information on ordering the guidebook can be found at www.planning.org, where the entire guidebook and user manual may also be downloaded. Portions of this article were reprinted from the APA website.)