Category: Community Planning and Zoning

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Charrette Use in the Planning Process

A charrette (often spelled charette and often called design charrette) is an urban planning technique for consulting with stakeholders and involving them in the physical design or planning of the community. Charrettes are typically intense, possibly multi-day, events involving municipal officials, developers, and local residents. A charrette promotes joint ownership of solutions to problems and attempts to diffuse traditional confrontation between residents, developers, and local government officials.

Design Charrette

A design charrette is an intense collaborative effort used to create …

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Conservation Subdivision: Design Phase – Patch Size and Shape of Conserved Open Spaces

Introduction

As urban communities grow, design and management strategies for new developments become critical factors that determine impacts on natural resources. How can we accommodate growth and yet conserve natural resources and biodiversity? In this document, we focus on conserving biodiversity when land is subdivided. The term “biological diversity,” or “biodiversity” refers to the variety of life and its processes. Biodiversity includes species diversity, habitat diversity, and genetic diversity. For the purposes of this article, we focus on biodiversity of …

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Ex parte Contacts

An ex parte communication occurs when a board member in a quasi-judicial proceeding communicates, directly or indirectly, with any person or party in connection with a matter before the board, absent of notice and opportunity for all parties to participate. The term ex parte literally means “one-sided.”

A critical element of due process is providing every party involved in a case the same opportunity to present facts to the decision-making body. Boards and commissions are supposed to base their …

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Legislative vs. Quasi-judicial decisions

Almost all planning and zoning decisions made by local zoning boards, commissions, and elected officials fall into one of two categories: legislative decisions or quasi-judicial decisions. The basic difference between the two categories is that legislative decisions establish policies for future application, while quasi-judicial, or administrative decisions are the application of those policies. Examples of legislative decisions – those that establish policies – include the:

  • adoption of plans
  • adoption of ordinances (or amendments to ordinances)
  • passing budgets

All legislative decisions …

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The Advantages and Disadvantages of Cluster/Conservation Development

Introduction

Over the past fifty years, residential development has spread across the Illinois landscape, quite rapidly in some areas. As urbanized areas have grown, people have migrated to what have become known as “subdivisions” located in more suburban or rural areas on the outskirts of towns and cities. Much of this type of development has followed a traditional design, which some have described as “checkerboard or cookie-cutter housing development.” The residential zoning ordinances in most communities have …

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Visual Preference Survey

A visual preference survey is one type of public opinion survey. All of the principles and protocols, as well as design, content, and documenting considerations, for a public opinion survey also apply to visual preference surveys. See the page on public opinion Survey.

A visual preference survey is the same as a regular public opinion survey except that the questions ask the respondents to evaluate photographs or drawings of various types and ways of development. Often each visual image is …

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The Wexford County Example

This page presents a method, or procedure for planning which both incorporates the state-of-the-art for involving the public, and tools for public involvement management. This page follows the current research on public engagement. Particularly exciting are the reports from those communities using this system as to how smoothly and successfully their planning process was. This was also true with Wexford County –used as the pilot for this process, and reported here.

The basic process to develop a plan is …

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Community Planning and Zoning Contents


Articles and Fact Sheets

Community Resources

Learning Lessons

Annual Report and Optimization

  • Annual Report – 2012
  • Optimization Plan
…
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Modeling Downtown Parking Requirements With Planning Support Systems in Sheridan, Wyoming

 

Sometimes the goal of preserving and enhancing a community’s historical downtown character isn’t compatible with a community’s minimum parking requirements as dictated by zoning regulations. The town of Sheridan, Wyoming used sophisticated GIS-based planning support systems to assess the city’s parking requirements and show how these would support or impact their community’s goal of a pedestrian-friendly downtown.

Find out what they found – [1]

Reprinted with permission from Western Planner Resources…

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Designing America’s Wildlife Highway: Montana’s U.S. Highway 93

Grant Jones, FASLA, Cory Parker, ASLA, Charlie Scott, ASLA

Spend some time in western Montana and you’ll see the bumper sticker: “Pray for me, I drive U.S. 93.” This highway runs from Arizona to Canada. It is a two-laner through much of Montana, entering big-sky country from Idaho at Lost Trail Pass and passing through Missoula, Kalispell, the Flathead Indian Reservation, and along the western shore of Flathead Lake before entering Canada.

The road is heavily used, filled with recreational …

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