March 1999

By James Lawlor

Iowa: Land-use report released. The Commission on Urban Planning, Growth Management of Cities, and Protection of Farmland, appointed by the state legislature in 1997 to study land-use issues, delivered its final report and proposal for new legislation in January. The commission's 21 members represented a cross section of citizens, local and state government bodies, and interest groups, APA chapter president Susan Cosner says.

According to the report, the legislative proposal is intended to discourage urban sprawl defined as low-density development on the fringes of cities that is badly planned, uses land suitable for farming or open space, creates dependency on automobiles, and is designed without regard to its surroundings.

Thus, the proposal includes provisions for encouraging infill development (by raising maximum densities and allowing mixed use development, for instance) and for redeveloping existing urban sites. The proposal also calls for establishing urban growth areas around each city, and planned growth areas in unincorporated parts of the counties.

The core of the legislative proposal is a requirement that each local government adopt a "strategic development plan." The plans would be approved by a new state board, called the Urban Planning, Growth Management of Cities, and Farmland and Natural Area Protection of Farmland Board.

Six members of the board would represent cities and counties, with two members coming from smaller municipalities. One member would represent the general public. The board would also have the power to approve annexations - and, most important, adjudicate disputes among local governments regarding their required strategic development plans.

Iowa State University, which has been performing land-use inventories under contract to the commission, would continue to do so under the new legislation. The university would also be asked to track the rate of conversion of farmland to other uses. Also, the proposal calls for state agencies to coordinate their planning with regional and local plans.

In addition, the state would be required to update land-use inventories and establish farmland preservation programs. All municipal annexation would be subject to state review, and counties would be required to enact zoning codes and to participate in joint city-county planning.

The next step, says Cosner, is probably the introduction of a bill by commission cochair senator Mary Lundby calling for a study of specific implementing legislation. The election of Iowa's new governor, Democrat Thomas Vilsack, has put Republicans in a wary mood, Cosner says. Although Republicans control both houses of the legislature, they are still fearful of enacting planning legislation that is too far out in front of their constituents.

North Carolina: The right time? Legislative chair Tim Gauss, AICP, reports that the chapter's legislative committee has established a working group to consider drafting and introducing statewide planning legislation in the current session. He notes that a number of southeastern states have recently addressed the issue of statewide comprehensive planning. In addition, Gov. Hunt, who has only two years left in his final term, has expressed interest in several of the topics that could be included in a state plan.

Those issues include farmland preservation on the fringes of metropolitan areas, alternatives to tobacco farming, and sprawl development in general. Gauss notes that several groups, including the Sierra Club and a loose coalition of organizations called the North Carolina Sprawl Network, have been working on growth management issues for some time. The chapter, working with such groups, has a good chance to get legislation enacted, or at least to establish a study commission, he says.

A farmland preservation law is already on the books. But David Knight, the chapter's representative at the state capital, notes that until last year no money had been appropriated for buying at-risk farmland. In the last session, the legislature appropriated $250,000. Gauss says the legislative committee is likely to recommend other tools, such as urban growth boundaries and purchase and transfer of development rights.

Georgia: Taking stock. Ten years after the passage of Georgia's comprehensive planning act, a blue ribbon advisory committee appointed by the state Department of Community Affairs has issued an assessment. The assessment was undertaken at the suggestion of the APA chapter, says past president William Ross, who was a member of the committee. The committee's recommendations have been approved by the department and passed on to the office of Gov. Roy Barnes.

The good news, according to the committee's report, is that most counties and municipalities in Georgia have comprehensive plans. But, says Ross, they do not always make land-use decisions in accordance with those plans. Moreover, there is no statutory framework to guide jurisdictions through the nuts and bolts of establishing land-use controls.

The committee's long list of recommendations can be boiled down to a few simple themes, Ross says. The committee recommended that counties and municipalities be required to plan, be required to follow the plans, and have a formalized process for amending the plans. To give local governments a strong incentive to plan, the committee recommended that all state project funding, including transportation funding, be tied to the creation and implementation of a comprehensive plan.

Ross says that while Gov. Barnes appears to be strongly interested in better comprehensive planning, he is likely to postpone action on the committee's recommendations until next year. This session of the legislature will probably be fully occupied with enacting the governor's proposal for a strong regional transportation authority for the Atlanta metropolitan area, Ross says.