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This website is designed to become a practical destination for professionals in the business of planning community growth, as well as interested citizens. This page is aimed directly at those who want to share resources with their peers, participate in an ongoing dialogue about what has worked well in other communities and contribute to the ongoing success of the CONNECT project and our region's growth.
Contributed items will be posted below in the Best Practices Forum with links to the host organizations. We also welcome any case studies or "lessons" learned from practices that worked, or didn't work, for your community. And remember, HOW you did what you did is as important as WHAT you did!
Raising Local Funds for Local Road Projects: York County’s Pennies for Progress Success Story
Ensuring that Local Planning Officials & Staff Are Current in Planning Law: South Carolina’s Mandated Program
Planning Based on Lifestyle Choices: Facilitation Techniques for Getting at How People Want to Live
Reducing Unintended Consequences: A Process for Planning
Have You Checked Your Table of Uses Lately? How to Avoid the “Hitching Post” Issue
Raising Local Funds for Local Road Projects: York County’s Pennies for Progress Success Story
Pennies for Progress is the name of the York County Capital Projects Sales and Use Tax Programs. The Pennies for Progress Programs www.penniesforprogress.net were initiated by York County to provide the citizens with a safer and more efficient roadway system. The projects, which range from intersection improvements to more significant widening projects, were chosen by a Sales Tax Commission that represented the citizens of York County and then were approved by the voters in York County. Projects included both urban and rural areas. York County was the first county in South Carolina to pass this type of sales tax to improve the road system. A benefit of this tax is ninety-nine cents of every sales tax dollar raised in York County stays in York County. Once passed (initially by a slim margin), the County worked to implement the funded improvements. The success of the program lies in the overwhelming support a second “Pennies” initiative received from the voters, and the County’s success in completing targeted projects in a timely manner. York County is currently working on two sales tax programs to improve the road system in the county. For more information about this successful way one community has tackled its road neads, see the Pennies for Progress website, www.penniesforprogress.net (Contributed by Wendy Bell, Catawba Regional Council of Governments,
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Ensuring that Local Planning Officials & Staff Are Current in Planning Law: South Carolina’s Mandated Program
Ever heard a newly-appointed planning or zoning official say he or she wished they knew more about planning? To address this need, the State of South Carolina Code of Laws, Title 6, Chapter 29 requires an initial six hours of orientation training, with three hours of continuing education to be completed annually. The training is mandatory for local government planning commissions, boards of zoning appeals and architectural review, as well as staff who directly or indirectly work with planning officials. The South Carolina Association of Regional Councils (SCARC) has partnered with the Municipal Association of SC (MASC) and the SC Chapter of the American Planning Association (SCAPA) to offer comprehensive orientation training for local planning officials and staff members. Catawba Regional COG has been authorized by the State Advisory Committee to offer this educational program to our member governments and to provide certification to the respective Clerks to Council as required by state law. The COG has two certified trainers available and plan to schedule one three-hour training session each quarter to ensure that all affected officials and staff have local access to this educational opportunity. For more information about this program, contact Catawba Regional Council of Governments, www.catawbacog.org. (Contributed by Wendy Bell, Catawba Regional Council of Governments,
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Planning Based on Lifestyle Choices: Facilitation Techniques for Getting at How People Want to Live
Many comprehensive, land use, or other planning processes start off with discussions about what kinds of development people like or don’t like. These discussions can often play to stereotypes about development—that “density is like what they have in New York” or that “affordable housing is cheap-looking.” Communities often find that their discussions are more profitable, and produce better results, if they focus on how members of the community want to live their lives. It’s important to find whether people value the opportunity to walk among uses, and whether they would do so if it were convenient, or whether they really do want to get in their cars and drive everywhere. It’s also important to discuss the extent to which people value privacy and private rights, community, diversity, activity, independence, the environment, and beauty, because these things all figure into whether a plan is sustainable and implementable or not. In addition to the community preference surveys and charrettes, facilitators of public processes can use maps and other visualization tools, or even exercises such as “think about your ideal day” to get answers to questions such as:
- What kinds of services do you want to have within walking distance of where you live? What is “walking distance” for you? And it is more important for you to have those services close to your house, or close to your job? Many people actually like to spend more time at their job or away from home than they do at home.
- If you have children, how important is it for their activities to be within walking or biking distance for them? What would it take for you to consider it safe for them to use walking or biking facilities? Children’s activities these days typically are not so backyard-based as they once were, nor are children encouraged to “go out and play” in the neighborhood at large. Where and how children engage in activities can be a major factor in shaping communities.
- How big a benefit would it be for you not to have to spend as much time in your car as you do now? There is a sense that “Americans have a love affair with their cars.” Is this true in every community? How is that affected by commute times and/or the price of gas?
- Should people be able to live above the store? Should a store owner be able to rent their upstairs to a tenant? This can be a factor in breaking through the mixed-use barrier, as is the idea of being able to walk from home to the corner Starbucks.
- How do you feel about having housing in your neighborhood that public workers—teachers, police officers, other lower-paid service employees—can afford to purchase? What would make it acceptable to you? Many people do not realize that in rapidly-growing communities experiencing an influx of highly-educated people, the median income can rise quickly and leave respected public employees eligible for affordable housing.
By thinking through lifestyle issues such as these, communities can do a better job of both educating their citizens about issues that impact development choices, and in meeting their citizens’ real needs and desires for lifestyle choices. And even if a community opts for suburban development patterns, the decision is based on articulated lifestyle decisions.
For more information, check out (Contributed by Rebecca Yarbrough, Centralina Council of Governments,
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Reducing Unintended Consequences: A Process for Planning
It’s important that the public and policy makers know the consequences of their preferences, to the extent that such consequences can be foreseen. For years, no one realized that development that is based on half-acre or one-acre lots mandates an auto-dependent lifestyle, and the resulting congestion, road and gas costs, and air quality issues. But development that is denser, but not dense enough to make transit feasible, may only make these problems worse.
Building communities is like dropping a whole bunch of stones in a pond—one stone creates ripples, but several create ripples that interact with each other. It’s hard to know what affects what.
One way to consider this, in a public setting, or when engaging in discussions of new policies, is to create an “Integration Web.” The topic under discussion gets put in the middle of a VERY large piece of paper, and from it, those things that either impact the topic, or that the topic impacts, are brainstormed. And those things that impact the impacts are brainstormed. The point of the exercise is not to solve all the resulting relationships, but to at least try to capture them so that they are not forgotten in the planning process.
Here’s an example: A town wants to undertake a massive tree-planting program.
“Tree Planting” goes into the center of the paper. Then people brainstorm what will be impacted by that program, and what will need to happen for that program to work, and who will be impacted. Some of the classic spin-offs from that are: sidewalks, an increase in perceived safety from highway traffic, better air quality, improved water quality, reduction in heat island, older people able to walk more because of increased shade, public works workload increased because of tree-trimming needs, greater chance of power outages from ice storms, etc. Getting the potential impacts and issues on the table allows subsequent planning to engage in problem-solving related to these issues.
There are not answers to all of the potential impacts of every public policy decision, and the full consequences of every decision haven’t been researched. However, identifying the issues in this manner enables front-end work to address the issues that are relevant, and to identify the need for additional research where none exists.
The process outlined above was developed by Denis Hayes and Tracy Russ of Interactive Decisions for the SEQL program. (Contributed by Rebecca Yarbrough, Centralina Council of Governments,
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One article in the press in recent years involved a community that revised their code to eliminate the requirement for hitching posts outside certain public uses. Can you say “minimum parking requirements?”
Their example is one that we can all learn from. Many land use codes have tables of permitted uses that are incredibly long. (When was the last time your community issued a permit for a “key shop”, “linen shop” or “notions shop”?) Instead of focusing on a seemingly endless list of potentially allowable uses, group like uses together, set acceptable development standards, and simplify (and shrink) your code.
This makes your code much easier for your citizens, planning board members, and the development community to understand and work with.
Contributed by Bill Duston, Centralina Council of Governments,
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Speaking of Hitching Posts: Don’t “Pave Paradise”
Joni Mitchell sang in the 70’s: “They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot…”
We are learning now that the impact of paving acres of parking spaces is creating environmental, as well as appearance, issues. The dark asphalt contributes to urban heat islands, and the impervious surface contributes to significant water quality and stormwater management issues. Too many parking lots never get filled…even during peak Holiday shopping periods.
Many communities are reexamining their off-street parking standards and, as a result, requiring less paving and impervious ground cover. They are finding alternative means of providing for parking. Examples include reducing the required number of off-street parking spaces, allowing for joint parking between neighboring land uses (a restaurant can use parking for an adjacent doctor’s office after hours), and counting (and promoting!) on-street parking to count towards meeting off-street parking needs.
For more information, check out the SEQL action item on “Efficient Parking Strategies,” at www.seql.org.
Contributed by Bill Duston, Centralina Council of Governments,
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Shopping Centers Have Changed…So Should Your Regulations:
Data trends show that the conventional suburban shopping mall (i.e., planned and designed for the automobile with massive outdoor parking lots) is increasingly going out of favor with consumers. In their place, “lifestyle centers” complete with open-air plazas, on-street parking, sidewalks, outdoor street amenities, etc. are finding favor. Not only are lifestyle centers geared for the pedestrian once persons arrive there, but many are designed to integrate residential uses within the development. Apartments and condominiums are often placed on the upper stories of commercial buildings. In other instances, single-family developments are built to seamlessly integrate with the commercial uses.
The conventional strip shopping center is also changing. The “sea of asphalt” look--where all parking is located in front of the center and visible from adjoining public streets--is slowly but surely on the wane. In its place are well-designed retail buildings that front the street with parking placed to the side or rear of the buildings. Moreover, sidewalks are being placed along adjoining streets and within the development to allow for meaningful and safe pedestrian access.
Local governments need to examine their land use regulations to ensure that alternatives to the conventional shopping center exist--AND are promoted. Many “commercial” zoning districts categorily disallow residential uses; others give signage bonuses for buildings with deep front yard setbacks. Some codes ban parking altogether on public streets.
For examples and sources of regulations that address these types of shopping centers, refer to:
- American Planning Association, Planning Advisory Service Report #523/524, Crossroads, Hamlet, Village, Town: Design Characteristics of Traditional Neighborhoods, Old and New (2004)
- American Planning Association, Planning Advisory Service Report #526, Codifying New Urbanism: How to Reform Municipal Land Development Regulations (2004)
Contact the American Planning Association at www.planning.org/pas
Contributed by Bill Duston, Centralina Council of Governments,
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