In the past, the conventional wisdom among too many “urban” planners was that agricultural zoning was little more than a “holding zone” for vacant land, waiting for development at some future time.

Today, there is a growing understanding that communities wishing to preserve the agricultural economy and unique character of our rural places must do more than simply respond and react to development pressures. Planning for the future of rural Michigan communities and expanding local choices for food production is part of the mission of Building Place.  Planning for agriculture and local food sourcing should be part of local community planning, whether your community is urban or rural in character.

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Rodney C. Nanney, AICP, principal planner for Building Place, is an innovative provider of solutions to community planning, zoning, and local economic development challenges.  As a writer, public speaker, and community planning consultant, Mr. Nanney consistently strives to translate the tangled legalisms and technical jargon of zoning and land development into everyday language.

Mr. Nanney currently has several openings available to speak on these and related topics before your local business or community group.  Possible topics include:
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[reposted from February 23, 2009 - well worth another read!]

How to revitalize a neighborhood?  By listening to its residents.

Community planners and planning consultants (like many “experts”) can easily fall into the trap of listening too little and talking too much.  Planning is not like medicine, and planners should beware not to find themselves in the position of saying, “I know what’s best for you, now take this medicine and you’ll be all better soon.”

The following tale is adapted and summarized from “Polishing Up the Diamond,” an excellent article from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business – Center for Social Innovation.  What it offers for professional planners is a reminder to avoid the ‘expert trap’ - often the most successful ideas for making a place better come from those that live and work there…

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Ask The Zoning Guru

Are you… (more…)

Here’s a big “Thank You!” from our Zoning Guru, Rodney Nanney, to Shelley Tucker and the Michigan Townships Association for hosting such a great series of “Summer Evening” planning/zoning workshops across the state!

All four sessions were well attended, and all four venues were top notch. It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to present our (more…)

Author’s Note:  This has been written with my deepest apologies to Martin Luther King for desecrating his 1963 March on Washington speech.  Also, this is a work of fiction, so any resemblance between the characters and any real individuals is coincidental.

Unfortunately, the art and creativity side of community planning tends to too often be lost under a sea of legalities, zoning administration, and other more mundane, day-to-day tasks.  This is especially evident in the area of planning literature, where the vast majority of articles deal primarily with the technical side of planning.

The author of the following piece, Rodney C. Nanney, AICP, is pleased to make better use of the right side of his brain by publishing another in our “planning fiction” series:

What you need to know: It’s 2027.  Automobiles have been gradually outlawed, except for emergency use, after an Islamist/neo-fascist terrorist group detonated a 100-megaton nuclear device in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia five years earlier.  The bomb caused a  series of chain reaction explosions and firestorms within the country’s oil producing infrastructure, culminating in an unanticipated but titanic detonation of the country’s underground reserves which obliterated most of the Arabian peninsula and destroyed or contaminated 90% of the world’s remaining oil reserves.

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Solar panels OK for home, legal battle over for Canton couple

The push for alternative and renewable energy production in Michigan received a small but important boost recently when a Canton, Michigan homeowners’ association (HOA) backed down from its initial decision to deny the installation of solar cells on the roof of a home.  Here is an excerpt from the Detroit Free Press article: (more…)