Planning Quote of the Day

little demand or support

"Some state and local officials continue to think there is little public demand or support for bicycling and pedestrian facilities ... Nothing could be further from the truth."

-- Edward T. McMahon, "Bicyclists and Pedestrians Belong!" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #31)

note: this article is also available as part of a collection of articles in Transportation: New Directions .

you can't zone for aesthetics

" 'You can't zone for aesthetics. It is not within the purview of the police power.' This is a familiar refrain heard often by planning commissions ... While that statement might have been true in a good many jurisdictions thrity years ago, today almost all local governments have the authority to adopt strong sign controls, design standards, and other similar ordinances. "

-- Christopher J. Duerksen, Esq., "Zoning for Aesthetics" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #7)

note: this article is also available as part of a collection of articles on Planning Law .

I have no time limit, honey

"Mae Smith, the 64-year-old mayor of the teeny Central Texas town of Holland, seized the civic center lectern like a dragon-slayer ascending the throne. In a fiery red pantsuit and a voice that echoed without the help of a malfunctioning microphone, she and her cohorts revealed to a crowd of about 50 souls clad in denim and plaid a little-known weapon against the foe of all in the room: Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor.

The weapon, Smith said, doesn't involve marching on the Texas Capitol, like more than 1,000 did last year, some on tractors and horses. It doesn't involve clever Web sites that have been launched with cartoon characters and screaming rainbow text. And it doesn't involve confronting TxDOT big shots at public hearings across the state, like thousands did last year.

No, the mighty sword revealed by Smith is something called the Eastern Central Sub-Regional Planning Commission. 'It's a mouthful,' Smith acknowledged quickly of the bureaucratically nebulous name. 'You ought to try saying it with a lisp.' "

From, "Putting up a roadblock of questions," by Lisa Falkenberg in the Houston Chronicle (March 19, 2008), posted on the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog.

Note: According to Falkenberg's commentary, Texas law requires state agencies, "to the greatest extent feasible," to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." As Falkenberg explains, "the law may require TxDOT officials to sit in a room for hours, months, years, maybe even decades, as members of the Eastern Central Sub-Regional Planning Commission dwell on how the corridor might affect their water lines, EMS response times and any unforeseeable impact on their rural way of life. ... ECSRPC commissioners plan to prolong the 'coordination' process until, as Smith puts it, 'they do it right or change their mind. I have no time limit, honey.' "

For more on the massive proposed Trans-Texas Corridor highway/rail project, see: the Texas Dept. of Transportation's Trans-Texas Corridor web site, and -- for opposing viewpoints -- the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog.

guardian of the public physical environment

"The modern American planning commission is the guardian of the public physical environment."

-- Laurence C. Gerckens, from "Community Aesthetics and Planning," in Taking a Closer Look: Design & Aesthetics, by the Planning Commissioners Journal.

the frequent granting of variances

" ... variances should clearly be the exception, not the rule. ... The frequent granting of variances may indicate a failure on the part of the zoning board to adhere to the ordinance’s criteria for approval of variance requests. However, numerous requests for variances concerning the same standard or restriction of a zoning regulation may highlight a need for review of that standard and its suitability within the affected zone district."

-- from Robert Widner, "Basics of Variances," in Planning Commissioners Journal #50

governing bodies have a critical role

"Governing bodies have a critical role in setting the community’s agenda. Given the importance of the comprehensive plan in identifying community goals and objectives -- and how these will be accomplished -- it makes sense for the governing body to be more than a mere spectator to the comprehensive planning process. This involvement, ideally, will translate into a sense of ownership and commitment to the plans and ordinances that result from this process."

-- Michael Chandler, from "Linking Elected Officials with Planning," in Planning Commissioners Journal #48

new media have empowered neighborhood groups

"Free, new media have empowered neighborhood groups tremendously. A decade ago, anyone wanting to oppose a rezoning or a development had to go door to door or make scores of phone calls to get people to meetings. Time and distance greatly constrained what people could accomplish.

But now an increasing number of neighborhood groups are using tools like Yahoo or Google groups, which allow e-mail messages to go out instantly to group members -- and only to group members -- so quickly that neighborhoods are now as agile as their industry opponents. Neighborhoods are also using free blogs to give them a public face and to archive public documents.

I think this new "Army of Davids" power is very apparent in Greensboro, where developers have lost recent rezoning battles (or given up before they started) in response to neighborhood pressure. It looks like they're going to lose a few more."

-- David Wharton, "And They're Getting More Organized All the Time" (Dec. 4, 2007, on his A Little Urbanity blog about living in the middle of Greensboro, North Carolina)

the most challenging aspect of smart growth

"Directing growth and investment back into existing communities without displacing lower-income residents is the most challenging aspect of smart growth. But the alternative – sprawl – has not been great for communities of color and lower income families, either. Unmanaged growth has contributed to: racial and economic segregation; a spatial mismatch between workers in older urban neighborhoods and rural communities and suburban job centers; a draining of investment from older communities; and exclusionary housing practices that bar the poor and people of color from suburbs. Smart growth policies have the potential to reverse these trends. If done inclusively, with the involvement and guidance of neighborhood  residents and community-based organizations from the start."

-- Leah Kalinosky, from "Does Smart Growth = Equitable Growth," in Planning Commissioners Journal #45 (Winter 2002).

Note: Kalinosky's article is also included in our just released publication, Taking a Closer Look: Smart Growth (available as our March special offer).

zoning is merely a tool

"Zoning is merely a tool. It can be used constructively as a positive force for community good or it can be misused. Zoning is what you make of it. It works best when it is based on a vision and closely tied to the comprehensive plan."

-- Edward T. McMahon, "What's So Bad About Zoning?" (from Planning Commissioners Journal Issue #44)

the density of alcohol outlets

"The density of alcohol outlets correlates with density of physical assaults and is closely related to crime and violence. Alcohol slows reaction time and its use by pedestrians and drivers contributes to traffic injuries. ... Liquor stores are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods."

-- from a background research report for the new "health element" of the City of Richmond, California's general plan.

Note: for more about the fascinating work Richmond, California, has done in developing a health element for its general plan, see today's post, Here's to Your Health, on our PlannersWeb blog.

the real zoning code in Chicago is unwritten

"The real zoning code in Chicago is unwritten, but developers know it well: Changes in zoning go hand in hand with contributions to aldermanic campaigns."

-- From "How cash, clout transform Chicago neighborhoods," an investigative report in The Chicago Tribune (Feb. 1, 2008).

Note: According to the Tribune article, "The investigation found that Chicago is a city where a building boom greased by millions of dollars in political donations to aldermen has remade the face of neighborhoods, changing the feel of the streets where people live and work. It's a city where aldermen have become dependent on the political contributions they rake in from developers, while routinely ignoring city planners who oppose out-of-scale development."

For more commentary on the Tribune article, see Steve Rhodes' "Unzoning Chicago" in The Beachwood Reporter blog.

once it gets to us, all bets are off

"When we ask our citizens to take part in an exercise to determine how our city will look, they turn out in droves on their days off and pour their hearts into the work we have asked them to do. When the process is complete the headlines read 'Triumph of Participation' and we all pat ourselves on the back for the project's success. Developers will study the plan and, with the help of our nationally recognized planning staff, design a project that fits perfectly within the planning criteria that the public has designed, the staff has supported, and the Council has approved. The project goes through the Planning staff, Technical plat review, Subdivision Committee and the Planning Commission. Then, in the final step, the project comes before us.

This process, while time consuming and expensive, works reasonably well to this point. But then, once it gets to us, all bets are off. If a few individuals oppose any part of the project we will thwart the will of all the citizens who designed the plan, all the creative massaging of the Planning and Engineering staff, the citizen's subcommittees, and the Planning Commission. In being hyper responsive to the individual, we completely discount the majority.

The ripple effects are serious. The developer, who is risking millions of private dollars in the project, just had his costs go up, making the price of everything in the project increase. That is bad for the consumer. The chances for financial success of the project are diminished. This is bad for the city and the developer, and it erodes the confidence of our city staff. It teaches the developer to avoid anything that is creative or innovative. ...

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that we should just rubber stamp everything that comes in the door. But if we could approve the creative, innovative, new-urban design that fits our plan as quickly and easily as we approve the bad developments, it would be a vast improvement for the future of our city -- and our reputation."

-- State of the City 2008, from The Official Blog of Mayor Dan Coody, Fayetteville, Arkansas

the wisdom of crowds

"... the wisdom of crowds is often exceptionally good. And collective intelligence is especially valuable when it comes to subjects like town and city planning and managing development, subjects where important information is not concentrated in the hands of a few people, but is diffused among myriad members of the community. If the job is ... to produce a far-sighted plan for balancing environmental, aesthetic, economic, and social concerns, you’re far more likely to end up with a good answer if you solicit and aggregate the judgments of those who live in the community, rather than rely on a more traditional, top-down planning process. ... Is there a catch to the wisdom of crowds? ...  it’s essential to make sure that the crowd is a diverse one, made up of people with different perspectives and different problem-solving tools."

-- James Surowiecki, from "Speaking of Place: The Wisdom of Communities," posted on the Orton Family Foundation web site (you can also access a video clip of Surowiecki's talk at last October's CommunityMatters Conference).

for planning to be meaningful

"For planning to be meaningful, citizens must be involved in the process. Planners, regardless of their personal talents and capabilities, working in isolation and apart from the clients of planning, will not be able to craft plans communities will embrace."

-- Michael Chandler, from "The 21st Century Plan" (Planning Commissioners Journal Issue #31)

note: Chandler's article is also available as part of our Basic Planning Tools reprint set.

substitute order for disorder

"What is the Chicago Plan? It is a plan to direct the future growth of the city in an orderly, systematic way. What is its object? To make Chicago a real, centralized city instead of a group of overcrowded, overgrown villages? What does it mean? That by properly solving Chicago's problems of transportation, street congestion, recreation and public health, the city may grow indefinitely in wealth and commerce ...

We are to make the PLAN our ideal and to put it before us and dare to recognize it and to BELIEVE in it and to build for it. We are to forecast the time when it will seem as extraordinary not to have an official plan toward which to direct the growth of our city as it now seems that Chicago was ever allowed to be worked out like an ill-patched crazy quilt. ... It requires only sufficient local patriotism to substitute order for disorder, and reason, common sense and action for negligence, indifference and interita."

-- from "Chicago's Greatest Issue: An Official Plan," prepared by the Chicago Plan Commission (1911).

copy that rectangle 24 times

"Using the rectangle tool, make a rectangle about 20’ by 90’. Copy that rectangle 24 times, being careful to snap the endpoints together ... Make a rectangle about 60 feet deep and copy it across ... Select all new rectangles ... and click open RandomPushPull function from Plugins ... Now turn around to the back of the “buildings” to make first floors. On the back face of one building, make first story rectangle about 10’ in height. Copy across the others ... Delete any extra lines ... Select all first floor rectangles and apply RandomPushPull from 0 to -30’ ... Repeat same process on other half of block ... On the other side of the block, start again with 60’ deep rectangles, extrude randomly from 30’ to 70’. Then draw the 10’ first floor rectangle on the rear face and copy across, extruding all 0’ to 30’ ... Select the first floors on either side of the block to extrude, since rear yard requirements don’t apply to corner lots. Extrude 20’ to 60’ ... Move each façade of corner lot envelopes to the rear lot line, to close off the block ... Put 2 squares about 15’ x 15’ at each corner of the block, to establish dimension of sidewalk ... Draw a rectangle from endpoint to endpoint to create 15 foot perimeter sidewalk ...

Does this look like a typical New York City block?"

-- from Parametric Zoning Studies: 15 minute randomized block (Nov. 19, 2007)

why don't we just do away with them

"The Council and the Planning Commission sometimes seem to be stepping to different drummers these days. ... Maybe that's the way it should work, but it suggests to me that one body or the other is out of touch with political reality. ... If we continue to ignore and reverse the recommendations of the City Planner and the Planning Commission -- why don't we just do away with them and save the time and money."

-- from Let's Do Away With Flexibility, a post on the Life and Politics in Hudson, WI blog

a practical vision of the future

The comprehensive plan ... is a practical vision of the future capable of shifts in detail and arrangement over time as available resources and public preferences change. ... The comprehensive plan is practical in that it lays out a series of objectives that the community realistically intends to accomplish over the coming years. The plan also reflects vision in that it encapsulates the community's goals and aspirations for its future.

-- Larry Gerckens, FAICP, "C is for Comprehensive Plan," in his Planning ABCs

phone calls, not publicity

"What gets people to attend meetings is phone calls, not publicity."

-- Frank DiNovo, of the Champaign County (Illinois) Regional Planning Commission (speaking at the Upper Midwest APA Conference in Dubuque, Iowa, on Oct. 31, 2007

note: for more on this, see our post "On Dialogue" on our PCJ +plus web site.

planning's roots are in public health

"I believe very strongly that if you were to take planners and put them in one room and you were to take public health professionals and put them in another room and say design your ideal community they would design the same community but for entirely different reasons.

Planning’s roots are in public health. The early planning codes were made for public health reasons, to provide clean water, to prevent the spread of disease. These got separated, but there’s no reason why we can’t bring them back together and why planners can’t utilize the strengths of public health professionals and public health professionals can’t utilize the strengths of planners. Planners gain from this. Health impact arguments are powerful tools for furthering their agenda. ..."

-- Lisa Feldstein on the role of the public health professional in city & county land use decisions for better nutrition, food access, & physical activity (pdf). From a Hunger and Nutrition Forum (March 8, 2006) sponsored by the Fresno Metro Ministry

perceived as being a "firebrand"

"There is nothing inherently wrong with appointing planning commission members who have been active in special interest groups. The key question is whether the individual is likely to place the long-term broad public interest above those special interests -- and treat everyone fairly and without bias. ...

If a potential candidate is widely perceived as being a 'firebrand' for his or her cause and unlikely to act in an unbiased way, then appointing such a person may not be wise."

-- Greg Dale, from "Who Shall Serve: Public Interest vs. Special Interest," PCJ #48.

responsible planning is a creative art

"Responsible planning is a creative art using data from the past and knowledge of interrelationships to create new and better communities for the future."

-- Larry Gerckens, FAICP, from his K is for Knowledge in his Planning ABCs

37% - Local Planning Commission

"...  Which of the following should have the most input in determining the appropriate level of new development in your community?

37% - Local Planning Commission
25% - City Council/Mayor
9% - Land Developer
9% - County Gov't
8% - Don't Know
2% - State Legislature

-- from "Utahns Want Local Leaders Regulating Land Use," posted on Lincoln's Legislative bLOG (reporting the results of a survey commissioned last year by the Utah League of Cities & Towns)