Fundamentals of Plan Making

Methods and Techniques

Edward J. Jepson, Jr., Jerry Weitz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781138024359, 9781138024359
• eBook ISBN: 9781317688532
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping

Urban and regional planning programs aspire to prepare practitioners to write and implement plans, primarily at the local level of government. These programs are very much "professional" in their aspirations, as opposed to research oriented. Yet, academic planning programs often place greater emphasis on theory than practice. For decades, the planning academy has acknowledged a major disconnect between what the planning academy teaches students and the techniques and skills needed to be a successful professional practitioner.

Fundamentals of Plan Making will give planning students an understanding of research design as it applies to planning, develop familiarity with various data sources, and help them acquire knowledge and the ability to conduct basic planning analyses such as population projections, housing needs assessments, development impact analyses, and land use plans. Students will also learn how to implement the various citizen participation methods used by planners and develop an appreciation of the values and roles of practicing planners.

In Fundamentals of Plan Making, Edward Jepson and Jerry Weitz bring their extensive experience as practicing academics and give planning students the practical, hands on tools they need to implement the various methods used to create and implement real plans and policies. Its chapters on transportation, housing, environment, economic development and other core development topics also make it a handy reference for planning practitioners.

1
An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan

The comprehensive plan is the ultimate expression of the purpose of planning in the United States. It represents an evolution of thought that can be traced back to the eighteenth century and Ogelthorpe’s remarkable Plan for Savannah, through the civic progress and White City of the nineteenth century and the regulatory proliferation and Smart Growth of the twentieth century, culminating in the current quest for cities that are livable, sustainable, and resilient.

This evolution is rooted in both our increasing knowledge about how cities work, as well as the world in which we live. We are learning that cities are systems that behave like other systems, each being a collection of complex interactions that responds to changes in their environment. We are beginning to understand that the success of cities depends upon their ability to collect and process knowledge and to use that knowledge to anticipate and adapt in a world that is complex and finite, as well as filled with possibilities.

The comprehensive planning process is a way for communities to bring it all together. Or, as stated by Melville Branch (1998):

comprehensive planning achieves the best results for the organism with which it is concerned when it does not oppose or transgress natural change, but conforms to, works with, or utilizes natural forces and constraints to the fullest extent possible.

(p. 60)

The comprehensive plan, as an outcome of a comprehensive planning process, can be seen to be a community’s statement of purpose and intent based on an understanding of both its place in the world and what it needs to do to progress and persevere.

Unfortunately, planning is like pulling teeth: as an experience, most people would rather avoid it. Even once they are assembled, it is difficult to engage people in the way that is needed: in a hard-nosed, conceptual exploration of reality and the search for agreement among conflicting views. It is just much easier, as Branch (1998: 166) explains, “to continue in the existing condition and change only when necessary than to struggle to achieve improvement.” When this is combined with other facts, such as that planning is more concerned with the public interest than the individual, it can become a very difficult “pill to swallow.”

What Is a Comprehensive Plan?

A comprehensive plan is a statement of the future vision of a community in terms of its land use and physical development. It consists of goals, objectives, and policies that are designed and intended to fulfill that vision. It is prepared through a participatory process that involves a review of the community’s existing conditions and projections of its future, a consideration of the forces that are influencing its development, an evaluation of possibilities in terms of what can and should be done, and its official adoption by the local governing body.

Comprehensive plans are designed to serve as the basis for land-use regulations, such as zoning ordinances. They are also intended for use by local elected officials as a guide for decisions related to the use and development of land. A comprehensive plan can also help developers match their development projects to a community’s vision and values, as well as its assets and capabilities.

Reasons to Create a Comprehensive Plan

Appeals to system theory are not likely to overcome the inherent resistance to planning. Rather, what is needed is a discussion of reasons that resonate with a community’s residents and its leaders. Here is our contribution to that discussion:

Planning is about People

Planning is fundamentally about people—particularly, where they live. We need to understand the various characteristics of the people in the community now, as well as anticipate the likely characteristics of the people who will move into the community in the future.

Population change is the most fundamental issue to address in the comprehensive plan. The population of the community will stabilize, grow, or decline, or even experience phases of both growth and decline over time. Communities cannot plan adequately unless there is information about how many new residents will live in the city or how many will leave. Once determined, projections of future population help determine the nature of demands on municipal facilities such as schools, parks, police, and water supplies. Those demands may differ based on the age composition of the community’s population and other variables. Comprehensive plans are therefore based on substantial analysis of existing characteristics of the population, such as age, race, ethnicity, income, and educational attainment, since these variables can have important influences on future community needs and desires.

Planning is about Livability

Nothing touches people more than impacts on their homes and neighborhoods. People have preferences about how they live, and there is a diversity of preferences. People and households are not always able to match their preferences with their economic means. If the population is projected to grow, new housing units will be needed. Based on the amount of population increase anticipated during the 20-year planning horizon, planners project the number of new housing units that will be needed. But it is not enough to simply anticipate the total number of housing units needed. Through comprehensive planning, a community determines the types of housing that should be built in the future, and the comprehensive plan provides a way to do it.

Planning is about Economy and Employment

People need places to work. In any given community, usually about half of the population is of working age, generally defined as being between the ages of 16 and 64. These folks form the labor force of the community, and they seek employment within or outside the community. The extent to which jobs are available is critical to the quality of life of any community. If jobs are abundant, the economy tends to prosper, and people are attracted to the community. If jobs for the local labor force do not exist, residents will have to commute outside the community for work or move to different towns altogether for employment opportunities. The comprehensive plan, therefore, gives consideration to the future capacity for employment and the types of jobs needed in the community (e.g., manufacturing, retail, service, etc.). In short, maintaining a community’s quality of life depends on keeping the local economy vibrant and growing, with suitable employment opportunities.

Planning is about the Natural Environment

Communities function within the natural environment and its limitations. Comprehensive plans identify areas where the conditions are either not conducive to development—such as steep slopes, poor soils, flooding, and high water tables—or appropriate for development, such as wetlands, wildlife habitat, and prime farm and forest lands. Plans contain policies that protect against the depletion of scarce energy and other resources and safeguard life and property against natural hazards. In short, a comprehensive plan is the principal expression of a community’s strategy of coexistence with nature and the environment.

Planning is about Compatibility, Character, Form, Efficiency, and Aesthetics

The way different land uses are located, are arranged, and interact with one another is critically important. Everyone wants a neighborhood that fits their lifestyle. Maintaining the diversity and character of neighborhoods is a fundamental purpose of land-use planning. Industries and businesses, if located close to homes, can create noise, odor, unsafe conditions, and other unwanted intrusions. Comprehensive plans are the basis for zoning regulations that prevent the occurrence of negative impacts caused by incompatible land uses.

Separation of uses is the main approach most communities use to protect against negative land-use impacts. However, the strict separation of different land-use types has led to a reliance on cars for mobility and a decrease in social interaction. Through its comprehensive plan, a community can increase the ease and safety of walking or biking to destinations such as schools, parks, shops, and workplaces. When residents travel more by foot or bike, they tend to be healthier. Through its policies, the comprehensive plan can guide how a community’s neighborhoods, businesses, institutions, industries, community facilities, and open spaces will be physically arranged in ways that make the community more active and healthy.

There is also an important “efficiency” consideration in planning future land-use arrangements. Land is a resource to be used, not just a commodity to be bought and sold. The arrangement of land uses can result in efficient and productive use of land or inefficient and wasteful land consumption. Communities can be spread out at low densities or arranged in a more compact form with higher densities. Communities have to determine their own desired balance in terms of density and intensity of land uses. Too much compactness can lead to congestion and crowding; too much dispersal can make walking, biking, and public transit use difficult, if not impossible. It also can make the extension of water and sewer lines or the building of schools inefficient. The vision, goals, objectives, and policies of comprehensive plans address these kinds of issues.

Citizens are also concerned about the way their community looks—how clean it is, whether there is too much visual clutter, whether the design of buildings and land developments complement or conflict with one another. Its appearance affects the sense of attachment to a place and its appeal and attractiveness to visitors (particularly as prospective residents) and businesses. Through its vision, goals, and policies, a comprehensive plan can have a direct and significant impact on a community’s visual character.

Planning is about Community Facilities and Services

As noted above, future population levels translate into new housing needs and more demand for businesses and workplaces. Growth creates a need for road improvements, additional fire stations, more schools, expanded water systems, larger sewer treatment plants, more government personnel in various departments, and an expansion of many other different services such as mental health, social services, libraries, and hospitals. A lack of growth has its own set of implications related to funds for public facilities and the efficiency of public services. The comprehensive planning process provides an opportunity for the community to carefully consider how it will meet its future public service needs.

Financing community facilities and services is a critically important consideration. If a community builds more facilities such as schools and water treatment than it needs, then its spending of tax and other revenues will be wasteful. On the other hand, if a community does not adequately anticipate its facility needs, demand will outstrip supply, resulting in such consequences as overcrowded classrooms, parks, and ball fields. Worse yet, there may be a loss of new employment-generating land uses due to the unavailability or insufficiency of water and sewer treatment and delivery infrastructure. The comprehensive plan helps communities make smart choices about investing in new infrastructure, as well as maintaining or replacing existing facilities. As a result, they will avoid making mistakes that are not only costs, but often irreversible.

Planning is about Cooperation and Coordination

To a large extent, the success of a community is directly tied to the success of its region, which is usually defined as a geographic space that is connected through economic, social, and political interactions and shared cultural and physical characteristics and attributes. Communication and transportation technologies have created for communities the opportunity—we can do it—and the need—we’d better do it to compete globally—to develop a sense of regional identity and to organize for cooperative or, at minimum, coordinated approaches to goal-setting and problemsolving. The comprehensive planning process is a means to enter into discussions about regionalism and develop policies that combine strengths and capacities.

Final Note

The comprehensive plan is necessary for the sustainability and resilience of communities. When residents become collectively engaged in learning about their community and discussing and (importantly) agreeing on courses of action, they are fulfilling a basic requirement for its success as a system. By avoiding planning, or approaching it in a minimalist fashion, a community greatly decreases its ability to adapt to future events, and likely increases the severity and the frequency of future negative impacts.

Reference

Branch, M. C. Comprehensive Planning for the 21st Century: General Theory and Principles. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998.

Further Reading

Anderson, L. T. Guidelines for Preparing Urban Plans. Chicago, IL: Planners Press, 1995.

Dannenberg, A. L., H. Frumkin, and R. J. Jackson, Eds. Making Healthy Places: Designing and Building for Health, Well-Being and Sustainability. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2011.

Gunderson, L. H., and C. S. Holling, Eds. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002.

Jepson, Jr., E. J. “Planning and Sustainability.” In Urban Planning in the 21st Century, edited by D. S. Graber and K. A. Birmingham, 103–116. New York: Nova Science, 2009.

Kelly, E. D., and B. Becker. Community Planning: An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2000.

Kent, Jr., T. J. The Urban General Plan. Chicago, IL: Planners Press, 1990.

Walker, B., and D. Salt. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a Changing World. Washington, DC: Island Press, 2006.

Weitz, J. “Why Local Governments Need Comprehensive Plans.” Practicing Planner 10, no. 1 (2012).

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of Boxes
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 An Introduction to the Comprehensive Plan
• 2 Data Retrieval and Management for Community Analyses
• 3 Demographic Analysis
• 4 Housing Analysis
• 5 Economic Analysis
• 6 Environmental Analysis
• 7 Community Facilities and Services Analysis
• 8 Transportation System Analysis
• 9 Land-Use Analysis
• 10 The Process of Plan Making
• Index