Growing Smart Publications

Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of the States
Smart growth measures are most successful in states where planning statutes have been modernized. Each state's level of success in this new APA report. The report finds that in many cases outdated planning laws are preventing states from effectively implementing smart growth measures to address urban sprawl, scattered rural development, farmland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.

Planning Communities for the 21st Century
This 1999 report by APA presents a report card on the status of state planning enabling statutes and statutory reform efforts in the United States. The report contains a detailed analysis of the planning statutes of all 50 states to determine how well they address contemporary planning issues. It also includes profiles of six states — Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Washington — which have, in APA's opinion, taken major initiatives in reforming their planning legislation and working with local governments to ensure plan implementation. Finally, the report describes recent legislative efforts at modernizing planning statutes, finding that in 1999 alone, approximately 1,000 land-use reform bills have been introduced in state legislatures, with approximately 200 of them enacted into law.

A Critical Analysis of Planning and Land-Use Laws in Montana
The APA Research Department released A Critical Analysis of Planning and Land-Use Laws in Montana in January 2001. The 116-page report was prepared for the Montana Smart Growth Coalition (MSGC), a group of 27 nonprofit public interest organizations in the state.

It was the result of a year-long project to assess the need for statutory changes to the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) to improve planning and land-use control in the state that would provide a basis for proposed legislation. The report's approach draws on APA's experience in developing model planning and zoning legislation through its Growing Smart planning statute reform study.

This report is divided into six sections.

Section 1 covers introductory material, including the objectives of the study and the interests of the MSGC.

Section 2 is a brief summary of the principal statewide plans prepared by the State of Montana.

Section 3 digests the state's enabling legislation for local planning and land-use control, and incorporates an analysis of relevant Montana Supreme Court and Attorney General decisions.

Section 4 summarizes the results of six focus groups conducted by APA and the MSGC in March 2000 as well as responses from a survey conducted by APA and the MSGC.

Section 5 reviews the recommendations of several previous studies by the EQC.

Section 6 sets forth a series of 29 recommendations for changes in the MCA regarding planning and land-use control. Recommendations are presented in four categories: planning for growth, managing growth, planning and development review, and paying for growth, along with a set of supplemental recommendations for an enhanced state role.

A University-Level Course Syllabus on Modernizing State Planning and Zoning Laws
If you teach city and regional planning, if you are a planning student, or if you just want to know more about planning laws and how they work, you'll be interested in APA's course syllabus on modernizing state planning and zoning enabling statutes. The syllabus, developed by Dr. Jerry Weitz, AICP, author of APA's best-selling book, Sprawl Busting: State Programs to Guide Growth (1999), as part of APA's Growing Smart project, is organized for a semester of approximately 14 weeks, and includes topical outlines for each week, primary and secondary readings and a sample assignment for a term paper. The course covers state growth management, regional and local comprehensive planning, housing, redevelopment, taxation, natural hazards planning, program evaluation, takings legislation, and political strategies for change, among other topics.

EcoCity Cleveland
A Smart Growth Agenda for Ohio was prepared for EcoCity Cleveland, based in Northeast Ohio. The organization's website provides a link to read and download the EcoCity Cleveland report.

Michigan Chapter Planning Statute Reform Report
The Michigan Society of Planning, APA's state chapter, has released New Directions: Recommendations for Planning, Zoning, and Subdivision Law in Michigan. The report proposes 27 important substantive and technical changes to Michigan planning laws. The report's recommendations point to specific model statutory language in APA's Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook that can be adapted to fit Michigan's need.