Growing Smart User Manual
By Jerry Weitz, FAICP
This User Manual is intended to assist those interested in planning statute reform apply the materials in the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change to develop innovative programs that are tailored to the needs of their own states.
By means of checklists and case studies, users can select from the options available in the Guidebook and tailor a program of statutory reform that will meet the unique needs of their state.
Details
About the Author
Jerry Weitz, FAICP
<p>Jerry Weitz earned his bachelor of science degree from Emory University in 1983 in history and political science and a master of city planning degree from Georgia Tech in 1985 (emphasis in land use and environmental planning) Jerry Weitz has been a practicing planner since 1985 and a member of AICP since 1987. He started professional work in local government in Georgia, for Roswell, Fulton County, Albany-Dougherty County, then the Georgia Mountains Regional Development Center (now Regional Commission). He moved to the Portland, Oregon, region in 1994 and worked part time for the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development and Cowlitz County, Washington, Department of Building and Planning while pursuing his Ph.D. in urban studies at Portland State University. which he completed in December 1998. Weitz relocated back to the Atlanta, Georgia, region in 1999, rejoining a prior employer (City of Roswell). He began his own consulting firm in 2001, Jerry Weitz & Associates, Inc., a job he holds today. Weitz has also kept a foot in the door of the academy, having completed adjunct teaching assignments at Portland State University, Kennesaw State University, and Georgia Tech. He has also held program director positions at Troy University (Atlanta site) in public administration and at East Carolina University in urban and regional planning (tenured associated professor). Weitz was elected to the College of Fellows of AICP in 2008. From 2010 to 2015 Weitz was associate professor and director of the urban and regional planning program at East Carolina University and also held an adjunct appointment in public health at the Brody School of Medicine. Weitz's specialties are growth management and preparing and administering local land use regulations. Weitz is author of several publications including the Book Sprawl Busting: State Programs to Guide Growth (1999), PAS reports on Smart Growth Audits (2002 with Leora Waldner) and Jobs-Housing Balance (2003), and several peer reviewed journal articles on growth management. He also authored the user guide to the APA Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook. His professional work has been recognized with awards. He is author of The Ethical Planning Practitioner (APA Planners Press, 2015) and co-editor (with Edward J. Jepson, Jr.) of the planning textbook, Fundamentals of Plan Making: Methods and Techniques, now in its 2nd edition (2021).</p>
Table of Contents
Part 1
Preface, Introduction and Initiating Planning Law Reform
Preface
Is This What the Future Holds?
Why Do We Need to Reform Planning Legislation?
Introduction
What is the Central Purpose of the Legislative Guidebook?
What is Covered in the Legislative Guidebook?
How is the Legislative Guidebook Organized?
Who Had Input to the Legislative Guidebook?
Does the Legislative Guidebook Make Recommendations or Sanction Individual Approaches?
Additional Features of the User Manual
Part 2
User Needs Checklists
User Needs Checklist 1
Needs and Goals Related to States
User Needs Checklist 2
Needs and Goals Related to Regions
User Needs Checklist 3
Needs and Goals Related to Local Governments
User Needs Checklist 4
Needs and Goals Related to Specific Subject Areas
Part 3
Synopsis of the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning
and the Management of Change
Chapter 1 and Chapter 2: Initiating Planning Statutes Reform and Statements of Purpose in Planning Statutes
Chapter 3: Definitions
Chapter 4: State Planning
Chapter 5: State Land-Use Control
Chapter 6: Regional Planning
Chapter 7: Local Planning
Chapter 8: Local Land Development Regulation
Chapter 9: Special and Environmental Land Development Regulation and Land-Use Incentives
Chapter 10: Administrative and Judicial Review of Land-Use Decisions
Chapter 11: Enforcement of Land Development Regulations
Chapter 12: Integrating State Environmental Policy Acts with Local Planning
Chapter 13: Financing Required Planning
Chapter 14: Tax Equity Devices and Tax Relief Programs
Chapter 15: State-Level Geographic Information Systems and Public Records of Plans, Land Development Regulations, and Development Permits
Part 4
Example Applications
A State Wants to Ensure That Local Governments Develop a Minimum Capacity in Local Comprehensive Planning
A State Wants to Direct Development and Investment
A State Recognizes That Local Governments Don't Have Adequate Authority for Innovative Mechanisms and Incentives or Even Basic Land-Use Controls in Place, Like Zoning Ordinances and Subdivision Regulations
A State Recognizes That Local Development Review Procedures and Judicial Review Procedures Have Serious Problems and Need Reform
A State Recognizes That Critical Resources Need Protection
A State Wants to Ensure That There is an Adequate Supply of Affordable Housing
A State Finds the Need to Encourage Redevelopment