Planning Commissioners Journal

Important Update for Our Subscribers & Friends: Proposed PCJ Plus Site

-- PLEASE ALSO TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO COMPLETE THE SHORT QUESTIONNAIRE AT THE END OF THIS MESSAGE --

A Message to Planning Commissioners Journal
subscribers and friends
from PCJ Publisher & Editor Wayne Senville

Twenty years ago many of you put your trust in us, enabling us to start up the Planning Commissioners Journal, the first national publication designed to meet the needs and interests of citizen planners.

At the end of January we told you that because of the economic recession, we could no longer continue the Planning Commissioners Journal as a quarterly print publication.

Over the past weeks, we’ve been taken aback by the dozens of notes and messages of support and encouragement we’ve received. Many of you have asked whether there is any way to continue the PCJ as an online resource. Others have stressed to us the value in continuing to make available the more than 450 articles in our archives, as well as our popular Welcome to the Commission! A Guide for New Members.

We’ve sharpened our pencils in looking for an approach that would allow us to remain financially viable, while continuing to meet the needs from planning commissioners, governing body members, and interested citizens across the U.S. and Canada. At the same time, in recognition of the growing value of social networks -- as those of you who have visited our Linkedin group site can attest -- we’ve looked at the role interactive forums could play.

Just as you placed your trust and support in us over the years, we hope you will support our new plan which will allow us to continue to meet the needs of planning commissioners. We want to introduce you to the proposed PCJ Plus.

As a PCJ Plus member, you’ll receive:

Exclusive free online access to the full text of nearly 500 articles previously published in the Planning Commissioners Journal. When you access our password-protected web site, you’ll easily be able to search (by word or topic) for articles of interest to you. You can then read them online or print them out.

• One PCJ Plus membership will allow ALL members of your town, city, or county planning and zoning board, as well as your planning staff, to have access to PCJ Plus.

• Access to the above content -- and the ability to purchase our popular Welcome to the Commission! A Guide for New Members -- will only be available to PCJ Plus members.

But we’re not stopping with this huge archive of past content.

As a PCJ Plus member, you’ll also have exclusive access to:

• Our new “10x10” series. Over the course of the year we’ll be posting 10 concise reports on 10 topics of special interest to our readers. Our 10x10 reports will be designed not just to provide helpful tips and information, but also to stimulate discussion. To encourage that, we’ll be moderating an online forum for follow up conversations -- so that commissioners (and planners, too!) can learn from colleagues across the country.

• Our new “Bright Ideas” reports, filling you in on creative ideas shaping the world of planning today. Again, only available on our PCJ Plus site.

• Updates to past PCJ articles, starting with those most frequently requested in recent years.

The bottom line: we want PCJ Plus to be the go-to resource for citizen planners, including members of local planning commissions and zoning boards. 

What will all this cost you?

In many cases, less than what you’ve been paying for the Planning Commissioners Journal.

As has been our long-time practice we’ll be offering a reduced annual membership rate to cities under 25,000 in population, and to counties under 75,000. Our annual small-community rate for PCJ Plus will be $75. Remember, this low price will now include access for all members of your planning commission, zoning board, and staff. For example, if in the past year you had been paying for 8 subscriptions at a cost of $139 ($55 for your first subscription, plus $84 for the 7 additional subscriptions), you’ll now be paying just $75 for PCJ Plus membership, a $64 savings.

Our regular PCJ Plus annual membership rate for larger communities will be $95. Again, this price will now for the first time include unlimited online access to hundreds of past articles we’ve published at no additional charge -- and to new material -- for all your planning board members and staff. For almost all of our current multiple copy subscribers, this pricing will less than what you’ve paid in the past. For those of you who have been ordering a single copy, you can now provide your full commission and your staff with complete access to our archives and new content.

Individuals can also become members for just $55/year. This lower membership fee will be for individual use of the PCJ Plus site, and not for shared use with others.

The next steps:

We would welcome your candid feedback to what we're proposing for PCJ Plus. Please take a few minutes to complete the short survey form set out immediately below -- you may even win an Amazon.com gift card in the process!

In April -- assuming we move forward with PCJ Plus -- we’ll be providing you with information on how you can transition your current PCJ subscription to membership in the new PCJ Plus.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to call us at: 802-864-9083, or email: pcjoffice@gmail.com

Again, we appreciate the confidence you’ve placed in us over the past twenty years -- and hope to continue earning it.

 

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Questions for You

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

Our Spring issue will be titled "Looking Back, Looking Forward."

As this will be the final print issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal, we would especially like to feature the voices of our readers and those who have followed us online and on sites like Linkedin.

As a result, we'd very much appreciate your responding to the following questions. We'd welcome a response from either your community's Planning Director, Planning Commission Chair, or some other member of your commission (especially someone who may have served for 10 or more years) -- but just one person responding please! If you're not on the planning commission or its staff, we'd still welcome hearing from you -- especially in response to the second and third questions.

We think it will be fascinating to see how issues and concerns correspond, or differ, in communities across the country.

After we receive your reply -- and please reply no later than Feb. 29th -- we'll get back to you with any questions or suggested edits (most likely, if we need to trim for length) before your comments appear in our Spring issue.

You can reply by either email: pcjoffice@gmail.com
OR by FAX: 802-862-1882.

Thanks so much.

Wayne

---

1. Looking back over the past 10 to 20 years:

a) In what ways -- if any -- has the workload and focus of your community's planning commission / planning board changed, especially in terms of the type of issues that you're spending the most time on? b) Has the way you've conducted planning commission business (e.g. run meetings; dealt with the public; functioned as a body) changed in any significant way?

-- please limit your reply to no more than 250 words

---

2. Looking forward, what do you see as the three most challenging planning / land use related issues your community will be facing over the next 10 to 20 years?

-- please limit your reply to no more than 250 words

---

3. Tell us a little about your community, especially so readers can better put in context your responses to the previous two questions.

-- please limit your reply to no more than 150 words.

---

If you have any questions, please email us at: pcjoffice@gmail.com

 

Pre-Order our Updated & Expanded Welcome to the Commission Guide

We are about to release an updated version of our best-selling: Welcome to the Commission! A Guide for New Members. In addition to "Tips for New Members" and "The Planning Universe," the revised edition will include planning historian Laurence Gerckens' fascinating Planning ABC's -- an alphabetic overview of 26 key planning topics.

Order today, as pre-order pricing is guaranteed only through March 15, 2012.

For details & ordering information.

Green Infrastructure Poster for Your Home or Office: A Special Offer

update 3:30 pm EST Feb. 7: The Planning Universe poster is now sold out. We still have a limited number of Green Infrastructure posters available for $7.50 each, plus $5.00 postage (regardless of the number of posters you order). Insert # of Green Infrastructure posters you would like, then click on Shopping Cart button. # of posters:

please on image to view higher resolution pdfs of course, no watermarks in printed poster Green Infrastructure poster (17 x 22") illustrated by PCJ cover artist Paul Hoffman; quotation by PCJ contributing writer & ULI Senior Resident Fellow Ed McMahon

While the Planning Universe Poster is now sold out, the text and graphics from the poster are also incorporated into part of our Welcome to the Commission Guide for New Members. Take a look at what you'll find inside our best selling guide for new planning board members. Take a look at a summary Ed McMahon's article on Green Infrastructure; we'll email a complimentary pdf of it to you when we receive your order.

Our Winter Issue: Strengthening Local Economies

You can either order a print copy for delivery by mail for $12.75, plus postage or download a pdf of the Winter 2012 issue for $10.75

Contents of our Winter 2012 Issue:
	Complete Streets by Hannah Twaddell A growing number of communities are developing "complete streets" policies and programs. What's behind this new approach to local transportation planning?
Food Planning for Your Local Economy by Diana Limbach Lempel and Christina DiLisio A look at several projects in the Boston area highlighting the link between planning and food. Also exclusively on our PlannersWeb site, PCJ contributing writer Beth Humstone outlines key elements in drafting a mobile food truck ordinance.
	It's Cool to Be Square by Staff from Project for Public Spaces More and more, public squares and urban parks, not expensive mega-projects, are emerging as the best way to make downtowns more livable.
Plannerisms We Can Do Without by Dave Stauffer If planners were to delete only one word from their vocabulary, which would you vote for? Some nominees from PCJ contributing writer Dave Stauffer -- and from some of our readers.
	Winning a Community Over to New Ideas by Otis White In this follow-up to his Fall article, Otis White reports on the impact a Pennsylvania planning commissioner had on his community.
Putting Some Oomph into Planning with Carolyn Braun, AICP; Wendy Grey, AICP; Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, AICP; Lee Krohn, AICP; and Jim Segedy, FAICP. A roundtable discussion on ways of strengthening the planning process -- with a look at: the roles of planning commissions and governing bodies; finding time for long-range planning; and better ways of implementing local plans.
	What Are You Guys Doing To Fix It? by Della Rucker, AICP, CEcD As planners and planning commissioners we need to think ahead, anticipate consequences, and identify our blind spots so we aren't sideswiped by a future we didn't see coming.

Eating on the Go: Mobile Food Trucks

by Planning Commissioners Journal Contributing Writer Elizabeth Humstone

Across the country entrepreneurial chefs are peddling their food on the road -- moving into parking spaces and serving up customers a broad range of culinary specialties at affordable prices. For many food truckers, this is a chance to try out their recipes, get a following, and move up to a bricks and mortar location someday. For others, it is a way to increase awareness of their anchor restaurants by spreading out into the community to broaden their base.

Food trucks have become so established that Zagat’s, the guide to fine dining, offers an interactive food truck finder for some cities. In Columbus, Ohio vendors have their own web site -- Street Eats Columbus. The Mayor of Tampa, Florida, likes what food trucks do for his town and is organizing a monthly Food Truck Fiesta.

Truck outfitters, depot kitchens owners, website designers, lawyers, permit expediters, and marketers are all benefiting. Even established restaurant chains like Taco Bell and Jack in the Box are getting into the act. The industry is serviced by its own website, magazine, podcast series, and a show on the Cooking Channel. It looks like food trucks are here to stay. 

Many cities are embracing the rise in food trucks as a way to add jobs, bring vitality to the streets, and offer convenience and diverse eating choices to consumers. 

Food truck in downtown Miami, Florida. See also Miami Food Trucks web site.

Yet others have resisted the trend when faced with angry push-back from established restauranteurs who say the trucks are unfair competition and block views of their businesses. Opponents complain that the mobile vendors aren’t tax-paying, rent-paying, ADA-compliant, health-inspected, and zoning-permitted businesses. While food truck vendors may not pay rent or property taxes, they do incur costs for food, food preparation and storage, fuel, permits and fees, and truck maintenance. They also usually must meet a host of local regulations. Many communities require health inspections, vending permits, business registration, and zoning permits. Still others, such as St. Petersburg, Florida, don’t permit mobile food vendors at all.

Pressures are mounting, however, for cities to loosen up their restrictions on food trucks. Courts have struck down zoning standards on food trucks designed to address unfair competition with bricks-and-mortar restaurants. Support from the business community and even other restauranteurs is beginning to grow -- provided some conditions are met.

What are the considerations that planners must make with respect to food trucks to respond to this mobile land use issue?

Our Fall Issue Is Now Available

Download a pdf of the Fall 2011 issue for $10.75 or Order a print copy for delivery by mail for $12.75, plus postage

Contents of our Fall Issue:
	Our Feature Article: Sitting on Both Sides of the Table by 25 Planners and Planning Commissioners For this 20th anniversary issue of the PCJ, we posed several questions to 25 individuals who have had the opportunity to serve both as professional and citizen planners.
Commission and Staff: Expectations of Each Other by Michael Chandler Long-time planning educator Michael Chandler lists the ten top expectations from both sides of the table, in this popular reprint from our Fall 1996 issue.
	The Role of the Professional Planner by Perry Norton After a career as a planner, planning consultant, teacher, and director of the American Institute of Planners, Perry Norton passed away last year. In this article from our archives, Norton reflected on what professional planners do.
Making a Difference by Otis White How much of a difference can one planning commissioner make? Quite a bit, as Otis White explains in this story about a county planning commissioner from Oregon.
	The Power of Food by Staff from Project for Public Spaces Food trucks; a farmers' market; apple dumplings; and a brick oven. How four communities have used food to bring new life to public spaces.
It's More Complex than Planning a Wedding! by Della Rucker, AICP, CEcD There's no getting around the fact that planning for even a small community is far more complex than planning for even the most elaborate wedding.
	How Wise Is Your Crowd? by Gwen Hallsmith Are there benefits in tapping into the knowledge of a large and diverse group of people?