Top
Contact
Twitter
Blog Entries
Favorite Links

I have been a community planner for over 20 years.  Here are the things I do: 

1)  CODE AND PLAN AUDITS

Making the case for new code and plan language can rely on first highlighting the shortcomings in current codes.  As such, a thorough audit of zoning code and comprehensive plan language is a necessary first step.  There are several key steps to a code audit:

  • Walking and windshield tours to get a sense of how codes have shaped the built environment
  • Interviews with code and plan experts, as well as developers and engineers
  • A thorough analysis of code and plan language
  • A survey of non-code plans, guides and manuals that have less direct, yet strong, influence over how and where development occurs
  • Recommendations for new language, with options to address local and state conditions.

2) CODE AND PLAN ALIGNMENT

Municipalities are facing multiple planning demands: transportation, stormwater management, sustainability, housing, hazard mitigation and updates to comprehensive planning.   

3)  DEVELOPING JOINT WATER AND LAND USE PLANS AND CODES

4)  GRANTWRITING FOR PLANNING FUNDS

A myriad of new water rules pose unexpected challenges to local plans and codes. 

Example work tasks

  • Alignment of federal, state, regional and local planning goals, objectives and implementation steps.
  • Identification of "driver" regulations and their use in planning.
  • Identification of conflicts among codes, standards and regulatory program language
  • Language to update TMDL and stormwater management plans to consider land use options.
  • Consensus building among agencies to identify common community design and preservation roles.
  • Walk tours to illustrate how codes work (or fail to deliver) once translated into built projects.
  • Recommended code and plan changes to meet multiple planning objectives
  • Translation of planning needs into "EPA's logic model" for grant and funding applications
  • Brochures, presentations and materials to illustrate planning challenges - and opportunity.
  • Suggestions on how to use code changes to meet regulatory compliance.