APA offers several types of LBCS training, all intended to help planning agencies, consultants, and others implement the new standards.

Conference Session. APA will conduct a one to three-hour workshop session that will introduce LBCS concepts in the context of real world land-use/land cover problems. This format is ideal for an APA chapter conference or a conference session sponsored by organizations of allied professions, such as groups in the fields of environment, information technology, health and safety, land development, and others. The target audience includes anyone involved in land-use data collection, analysis, or sharing, as well as policy people who may be considering implementing LBCS.

Estimated cost: $650 plus travel.

Full-Day LBCS Training Program. This intensive, interactive, one-day classroom-style training will provide participants with a thorough understanding of the multi-dimensionality of land use and how LBCS works. It will also provide an overview of the range of options for implementing a local standard using LBCS. Exercises will be developed and tailored to a region's land-use issues. A program of this kind could be hosted by a regional planning agency, an MPO, or state agency, which might invite several staff people from each jurisdiction (for instance, a senior land-use planner and a GIS analyst). As an example, Georgia's Department of Community Affairs hosted a full-day LBCS Training Program for regional planning agency staff who who are charged with comprehensive plans coordination in order to meet the eligibility requirements of the Georgia Community Act.

Estimated cost: $4,250 plus travel, with the sponsoring agency providing logistics (meeting space, food, promotion, and registration).

In-Depth LBCS Technical Assistance. APA will provide technical assistance to organizations wishing to develop a plan for implementing LBCS. A comprehensive review involves research into the background of existing standards, reviews of prior studies, stakeholder interviews, questionnaires, and meetings, a digest and critique of existing standards, and recommendations to amend or completely revise, existing standards. Comprehensive reviews are especially appropriate when a state or region has created a study commission or committee to evaluate its planning data. To date, comprehensive reviews have been conducted for the regions of Atlanta, Cape Cod, and San Diego, as part of the case studies done during the development of LBCS. Normally, such reviews require outside funding provided by a municipality, a state or federal agency, regional COGs, nongovernmental organizations, or foundations. A more focused review would look at specific subject areas or particular planning applications. Focused reviews have been conducted for many land-use, environmental, housing, transportation, and other topic areas. In either comprehensive or focused reviews, all such work is conducted in close coordination with local planners who collect or maintain land-use data Such reviews can take anywhere from one or two days to several months.

Estimated costs: based on a scope of services to be developed jointly.

Hands-On GIS Training for LBCS. APA continues to provide LBCS concepts as part of its hands-on GIS training initiatives. For instance, each year at APA's National Planning Conference, LBCS concepts are introduced as part of several GIS Workshops. These three-hour workshops, jointly sponsored and funded by APA, private sector GIS vendors, and APA members who volunteer, have been successful in introducing both GIS technology and LBCS concepts to planning directors and senior planners. Each year APA trains about 300 planners at national conferences in such hands-on workshops. APA will be providing this training at the Denver conference in March 2003 and in Washington in April 2004.

International Consultation. APA research staff can provide assistance with international LBCS work as well. In the past, assistance has been provided to the United Nations, European Union, Japanese local governments, and Canadian provinces.

For more information ...

To get answers to your questions about this program, or to explore how APA can shape the technical assistance package to meet your needs, please contact Sanjay Jeer at sjeer@planning.org or 312-786-6359.

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