Editor’s note: A few monthsago, we invited our readers to tellus a little bit about their hometowns, how their planning com-mission functions, and what theyviewed as the major challengesahead. Here’s what we heard fromplanners and planning commis-sioners in seven quite differentcommunities. Our apologies tothose who replied that we didn’thave space to include.

Ephraim, Utahreport from City Planner/EngineerBryan Kimball

We’re a small town in central, rural Utah, with

a lot of heritage. Our popula-tion has grown over 30 percentsince the 2000 census to justover 6,100 people, with most ofthat growth occurring in thelast five years. We have a two-year junior college that nearlydoubles our town populationwhen school is in session. Ourcounty is listed as one of thepoorest counties in the state interms of median income, withmuch of the local economy ofthe surrounding area based pri-marily in agriculture.

Growth Impacts

What started out as a relative-ly quiet small town has grownto the point that we now fre-

six to eight meetings a year – isnow a twice monthly meeting.What used to be a subjectivereview process that was onlyloosely guided by the existingordinances is now a more for-mal process based on compli-ance with the letter of the law.

Challenges Ahead

Continued growth remainsthe biggest challenge. Oursmall town is right on the vergeof being pushed into the nexttier of complexity and size.Because the junior college hasincreased enrollment by over40 percent over the last fouryears, there is an increasingneed for high-density housingto accommodate students. Theexisting high-density zones arenearly built out, creating theneed to expand them into whatare currently single familyneighborhoods. This creates anobvious conflict in land use.

Our commercial and industri-al zones are also nearly builtout and need to be expanded.And then of course, we need toensure that our infrastructure is in place and adequate toaccommodate all of thatgrowth. The question facing usis how can we preserve ourtown character and heritage inthe face of that additionalgrowth?

quently deal with issues ofgrowth – everything from newsubdivisions, planned unitdevelopments, commercialdevelopments, and high densityapartments and complexes, to having to update/rewrite allof our zoning ordinances andmaster plans based on how thecharacter of the community hasevolved.

During the last four yearsthere has been significantinvestment into the communitytotaling approximately $70-75million in the form of a newelementary school, new andremodeled buildings on the college campus, high-densityhousing, commercial projects,restoration of our historicCarnegie Library downtown,and other improvements.

Planning Board

As the workload and com-plexity of issues has increased,we’ve been forced to make ourboard meetings a little more for-mal. Twenty years ago the boardwas run entirely by volunteers,without any staff. We now havea planning director and a paidsecretary to do much of theresearch, legwork, and technicalreview of applications.

What used to be a “meet asneeded” schedule – which

amounted to

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Corrales, New Mexicoreport from Planning & ZoningAdministrator Cynthia Tidwell

The Village of Corrales isjust north of Albuquerque,

bounded by the Rio Grande,and across the river from San-dia Pueblo. There were PuebloIndians here since about 700AD. In 1706, a Spanish landgrant was given to a soldier ofthe “Reconquest of 1692.” In1712, that land grant waspassed to another soldier, JuanGonzales Bas – considered thefounder of Corrales. Incorpo-rated in 1972, the Village nowhas a population of about9,000. The municipal area issome ten square miles, includ-ing a nature preserve along thewest bank of the Rio Grande.

Nearing Build-Out

The Village is nearing build-out, so we no longer review/approve large subdivisions.Most of what we’re doing noware lot splits or small land divi-sions of under ten acres (oneacre minimum). However, weare spending more time oncode revisions, updating landuse codes that were first adopt-ed in 1989. One interestingnote: all residential and com-mercial land in the Village iszoned to include farming, aswell as livestock raising and

management –reflecting thehundreds ofyears of ditchirrigation here inthe valley.

PlanningCommission

The commis-sion enjoys

F E AT U R E

Looking Back, Moving Forward

Snow College (above left) has had a huge impact on the small Utah city of Ephraim. New housing for students (above right) with theWasatch Mountains in the background.

Westlake, Ohioreport from Planning DirectorRobert Parry, AICP

Located on 15.97 square miles in the western edge

of Cuyahoga County, Westlakeis approximately one mile southof the southern shore of LakeErie. It is a 15-minute commuteto downtown Cleveland.

Westlake’s population is justunder 33,000. Residents havemany housing options includ-ing neighborhoods of singlefamily homes, as well as condo-miniums, townhouses and clus-ter homes, and apartments. Inaddition, the city has severalindependent living, assisted liv-ing, and nursing home facilities.

From Outer-Ring Suburb toMature Edge City

The largest development inthe city’s history, Crocker Park,is a cutting-edge, mixed-usetown center. When fully devel-

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oped it will include over threemillion square feet of retail,hotel, and office space alongwith residential dwellings(above retail stores). The civiccore of the 86 acre develop-ment is a median park withfountains and open space areasfor community events. Lastyear, American Greetingsannounced that it will be build-ing its new corporate headquar-ters in Crocker Park.

We’ve grown from an outer-ring suburb to a mature edgecity with its own downtown.Twenty years ago, the depart-ment and commission spent alot of time on review of singlefamily subdivisions and smallstrip centers that were poppingup on the major arterials. Thefocus of development activitiesin Westlake is now in redevel-opment of properties, mixed-use, and infill.

Planning CommissionMeetings

Twenty years ago commissionmeetings were in a small,crowded room with paperprints tacked to a wall. No one,especially the public, could seethe details of the projects. Nowdrawings, photographs, andplans are in digital form pro-jected on a large screen for thepublic and monitors for thecommissioners. All meetingsare also taped for webcastingand video channel replay.

The quality and quantity ofinformation has been greatly

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hands-on regulation writing(we do not have the money tohire consultants) and are verymuch engaged in the process.We are also paying much closerattention to commercial sitedevelopment plan review andapprovals. Our standards havebeen raised, and the work ofthe commission is focused onimplementation of high qualitysite plans.

The commission has alsoturned its attention to historicpreservation regulations andincentives in the commercialcore of the Village, with hopesof achieving a New Mexico Arts and Culture District desig-nation through its MainStreetprogram.

About six years ago the com-mission tightened up its “Rulesfor the Conduct of Business” –rules that delineate the order ofbusiness, the requirements forsubmittals, appeal process, pub-lic notice, “open meetings act,”who may speak and for howlong, and so forth. Applicationsfor all zoning actions are notscheduled for a hearing untilevery element is complete. Thecommission also imposed a10:00 pm adjournment timethat is rarely exceeded. Devel-opers and the public very muchappreciate the more rationalapproach to review and action.

The irrigation ditch above, as is typical, uses a manuallyoperated gate. These public ditches, constructed in the1930s by the Bureau of Reclamation, are managed by a“ditch rider” or mayordomo – who monitors the ditchesand allocates water use.

With three-foot thick adobe walls, the Historic SanYsidro Church dates to the 1870s. Not used as a churchsince 1961, it is owned by the Village of Corrales andmanaged by the Corrales Historical Society.

Views of Crocker Park development in Westlake, Ohio.

Challenges Ahead

Here in the arid High Desertwest, water has already becomethe issue of the 21st century. Weare returning to a more historic,dry, and unpredictable climate.Having enough water for resi-dential and commercial uses willbecome a terrific tug of war,with all the players battlingeveryone else. Native Americanshave “first rights, from timeimmemorial” – but have alwaysshared in times of drought. Theyhave their own developmentgoals, and when it gets reallydry, they may not want to sharewith others.

The drought is already impact-ing farming and livestockthroughout New Mexico. Herein the Village we are trying tokeep our farmers in business,and encourage small plot gar-deners to utilize irrigation waterfrom ditches that have been inexistence for hundreds of years.

improved – which has resultedin better development andfewer surprises during con-struction. The improved visualdisplays have reduced the timefor commission review and thenumber of meetings to getapproval. The addition of a cityweb page with extensive infor-mation has drastically reducedtelephone calls for informationbecause just about every docu-ment, ordinance, map, meetingminutes, etc. is readily availableto everyone.

Challenges Ahead

For communities in the slowor non-growing Midwest, I thinkthere will be a continuing slow-down in overall development,though outlying rural exurbswill still have rapid growth.Planning will take a back seatto economic development andproviding services to an agingpopulation.

After the crushing impacts of the economy on the develop-ment industry over the past five years, risk taking and over-building will be tempered. This may have a silver liningfor many communities thathave been struggling to keepup with expansion andincreased service costs.

Aurora, Illinoisreport from Planning CommissionChairman Bill Donnell

Aurora is a historic river town located in northeast

Illinois. During the mid-1990sAurora was one of the fastestgrowing areas in the country.We doubled our populationover twenty years. The 2010census puts us at just under200,000 residents.

Like many Midwesterntowns, Aurora once had severalmajor companies which provid-ed thousands of manufacturing

happening in the com-munity.

Challenges Ahead

Aurora has and willcontinue to try to con-trol density, over-crowding, and parkingissues in our olderestablished neighbor-hoods. As a formerindustrial city, we willneed to be thoughtfulbut creative in imple-menting policies topromote the redevel-opment of our olderbuildings and brown-fields properties.

As the housing mar-ket rebounds we will be chal-lenged to determine what thenew “American home” lookslike, and how we can stimulatethe housing recovery withoutsacrificing development quality.

Leesburg, Floridareport from Planning BoardMember James Argento

Leesburg is a progressive city of more than 20,000 resi-

dents in northwest Lake Coun-ty, about an hour’s drivenorthwest of Orlando. Leesburgalso is a central hub for com-merce, attracting 50,000 peopleto work each weekday. Alongwith the rest of Central Florida,Leesburg has experienced con-siderable growth.

I have been on the planningboard for about two years.While our commission used tomeet twice a month (before Iwas appointed), we now only

jobs. Few exist today. Aurora’sdowntown was a shopping andentertainment destination inthe 1950s, but declined afterthe development of the “Mall”on the east edge of town. Whilethe Mall continues to provide avaluable tax base, we have rein-vested in our downtown tobring back the vitality we onceknew. Like Chicago, forty milesto our east, Aurora is a city ofneighborhoods which supportsa community of rich ethnicdiversity.

Our Plan Commission Today

With the recent economicdownturn, we have had fewercases and fewer staff members.In the mid-1990s we wouldhave three meetings a montheach lasting three or morehours. We now average onemeeting a month.

Special interest groups havebecome more organized andvocal over the years, which canmake the job of deciding whatis truly best for the entire com-munity more difficult. Whilewe now have a constant streamof information from a variety ofelectronic sources, twenty yearsago most citizens read the dailypaper and probably had a betterunderstanding of what was

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meet once a month. This maybe due to the housing markettaking a dive, and developmentfreezing due to poor economicconditions.

Challenges Ahead

One challenge is trying toreconcile the rural nature ofpart of the community with the fact that we are suburb ofgreater Orlando. Our commu-nity has two major highwaysbisecting it – U.S. 441 and U.S.27 – and the Florida DOT isdoing a huge expansion ofthese roads. Therefore we willsee the impacts increased trafficbrings to an area that wouldstill like to keep its sleepy low-key flavor, but finds itself grow-ing at an increased rate.

Another challenge is the ten-sion between those in our com-munity who just want it to be aretirement center, and the pres-sure from young families com-ing into the community. As thepopulation expands, youngfamilies must receive accom-modations and services.

New Kent County,Virginiareport from Planning CommissionChairman David N. Smith

New Kent County is a ruralcounty with a population

just over 19,000. We’re strategi-cally located between two largepopulation centers, Richmondand Hampton Roads, whichhave seen tremendous growthand are putting some pressureon New Kent’s residentialdevelopment.

Planning in NewKent County

Several years backresidential develop-ment applicationswere coming beforethe planning com-mission on a regularbasis. Applicationsfor these types of

Looking Back, Moving Forward…continued from previous page

Road construction along U.S. 441 in Leesburg,Florida.

The landmark Leland Tower in downtown Auro-ra is a twenty-two story apartment building.

developments have significant-ly slowed due to the depressedeconomy.

Over the past two years, plan-ning commissioners and staffhave been busy updating andrewriting the county’s compre-hensive plan. The comprehen-sive plan was broken down intosections for revision and com-ments. The update and rewritewas very time consuming,involving many long hours, aswell as five public workshopsheld throughout the county.The goals of the comprehensiveplan are to retain the ruralcharacter of the county but atthe same time designate severalgrowth areas.

Challenges Ahead

The most pressing issue forNew Kent County will likely behaving an adequate potablewater supply and the ability todispose of wastewater economi-cally and responsibly. We’relocated in the Chesapeake BayWatershed, which has TotalMaximum Daily Load (TMDL)limits for nutrients. The TMDLlimit will increase the cost ofwastewater treatment.

Managing suburban housingdevelopment will most likelybe an issue once the economyreturns, but this growth may beconstrained due to the lack ofpotable water and wastewatertreatment facilities to handlethe growth.

• Shelburne Farms, a 1400-acre Frederick Law Olmsted-designed working farm from1886 is a world-class landscapewith historic farm buildings. Itis run as a non-profit education-al center. Both it and the nearbyShelburne Museum are highlyvisited tourist destinations.

• Lake Champlain is a signifi-cant natural resource on thewestern side of the town.Water-related amenities includea public beach, boat launch,and private yacht club.

Planning Commission

Like many other Vermontcommunities, Shelburne hasreplaced its zoning board with a “development review board,”which has also taken on thedevelopment review functionsthe planning commission usedto exercise. As a result, thefocus of our planning commis-sion is now on preparing planand zoning bylaw amendmentsand guiding long-term plan-ning activities.

The overall philosophy of thecommission has evolved as well;it is much more concerned aboutpromoting economic develop-ment than it was ten years ago.There is also greater interest indeveloping regulations thatwould govern the appearance ofnew development.

Another area of change is inthe increased use of technology.Commission meetings arerecorded, broadcast, andstreamed. Meeting materials are

Shelburne, Vermontreport from Town Planner DeanPierce

Shelburne is a town of 7,000people in northwestern

Vermont, about seven milessouth of Burlington, the state’slargest city. It sits along Route7,a main north-south state arteri-al road that links towns alongLake Champlain.

Shelburne’s 24 square milesencompass a varied range oflandscapes, land uses, andbuilding types:

• The historic village center –which includes a paradegrounds, general store, hotel,bed and breakfast, municipalbuildings, and town hall – isthat of the classic New Englandvillage.

• Farmlands and conservednatural areas surround the villagecenter. While farmland is underthreat of development pressure,we’ve also seen new organiccommunity farms open up.

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emailed, posted, tweeted, andmore. GIS is used regularly, andhardly a meeting goes by whenwe don’t display materials usinga laptop and LCD projector.

Challenges Ahead

One important issue the com-munity will need to resolve iswhat “planning for sustainabili-ty” or “sustainable develop-ment” means – and what it willtake to pursue it.

Another challenging issue isthe need to transform ourtransportation system. Thiswon’t be easy in a communitywhere the majority of trips aremade in single-occupant vehi-cles and where the expectationof many who drive is that weought to be able to take ourcars and travel congestion-freeto our destination at any hourof the day.

Shelburne has done much inrecent years to promote walk-ing and cycling, but will needto do even more. It must alsobe prepared to require develop-ers (and ultimately residents) ofprojects that impose significantdemands on the highway sys-tem to pick up a greater shareof the cost for necessaryimprovements to those systems– or help pay for alternatives. If transit is to have any realchance of success as an alterna-tive to cars, however, we’ll needto take seriously the notion thatland use and transportationmust be coordinated. ◆

Shelburne (Vermont) Country Store (left); La Platte Road Park bordering farmland.

Cooks Mill Pond in New Kent County, Virginia.

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