Author’s Note:  With students back at colleges and universities across the U.S., this seemed like a good time to repeat our free advice for new planning students:

In his book What Your Planning Professor Forgot to Tell You, Paul Zucker, FAICP offers practical advice for new professional planners. Reading it inspired me to reflect on the experiences that have helped me to be successful in this field, both before and after receiving my degree.

I’d like to offer some “words of wisdom” to new urban and regional planning students, which are based upon my experience and the collective wisdom of the many professional planners and others I’ve come into contact with since I started down this career path:

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Contact Building Place today to arrange for Mr. Nanney to speak to your group on this or other planning and economic development topics.

“What’s all the fuss about alternative energy production these days?”

That’s a question heard far less often now that we have experienced gasoline prices above $4 per gallon (and creeping up again), and huge increases in home heating and electricity costs this past winter.

Alternative and renewable energy facilities are “in” these days, especially in the halls of state government in Lansing.  Governor Granholm has put the spotlight on new, Michigan-based wind turbine and solar energy manufacturing plants, and the state and federal governments are pushing for more “green” energy production through incentives and mandates.

Today’s renewable energy technology is a vast improvement over 1970s Do-It-Yourself passive solar installations and high-maintenance windmills.  Most importantly, the cost of solar cells, wind turbines, and geo-thermal heating/cooling systems have come down significantly as technology improves and production increases.

PLANNING FOR OUR ENERGY FUTURE:

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholn recently signed into law the Clean, Renewable, and Efficient Energy Act (see below after the break for more information), which is intended to make Michigan a far more attractive place for investments into alternative and renewable energy projects and manufacturing operations.  Coupled with the state’s economic development efforts to move beyond an automobile manufacturing economic base, it is important for local communities to “plan for our energy future.”

Here are five things local communities can do to be ready for an alternative and renewable energy future in Michigan:

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In his book What Your Planning Professor Forgot to Tell You, Paul Zucker, FAICP offers practical advice for new professional planners.  Reading it inspired me to reflect on the experiences that have helped me to be successful in this field, both before and after receiving my degree.

I’d like to offer some “words of wisdom” to new urban and regional planning students, which are based upon my experience and the collective wisdom of the many professional planners and others I’ve come into contact with since I started down this career path:

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Planners by nature tend to love what they do (more often than not anyway), but sometimes things can get tough:

• A controversial proposal can bring a roomful of upset residents to a public hearing;
• A looming project deadline can require very long days that extend into the wee hours; or
• A bad day at the office brings five new variance petitions, ten irate ‘customers’ to the service counter, and two angry phone calls from your boss.

Now those are just some hypothetical examples of events that could upset a planner’s day.  Here is the story of a real-life circumstance of one Charlotte, NC area planner “ripped from the headlines“…

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So, you’re a planning commissioner and the worst has happened…

Some applicant for approval of a (probably controversial) site plan or special-conditional use or planned unit development or rezoning doesn’t appreciate the commission’s decision and has filed a lawsuit against the town, the planning commission, and you personally.

The Zoning Guru is sorry to say that it is true – a planning commissioner may be named as a defendant in land use or development litigation against a community if the individual participated in the decision-making process.  Now before all of our citizen-volunteers reading this dash off to pen their resignation letters, please read on…

It is extremely rare that personal liability is imposed, as it must first be proven that the planning commissioner acted maliciously or was grossly negligent.  Otherwise, the commissioner should be dismissed from such cases on the grounds of governmental immunity.

The Zoning Guru recommends that planning commissioners always follow the Nine Golden Rules of Defensible Land-Use Decision-Making…

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UPDATE: Thank you to all that attended our recent conference session entitled “Brevity or Ambiguity: What’s in Your Zoning Ordinance?” Click here for the PowerPoint presentation and links to more information.

ORIGINAL POST:

“Brevity” and “clarity” are not words that leap to mind when referring to the character of most zoning ordinance language.  Local zoning ordinances have a broad impact on residents, property owners and business owners.   Too often the text of such ordinances, having accumulated years of amendments, has become ambiguous and unintelligible.  Clear, brief, and unambiguous writing is a key to developing a zoning ordinance that is easy to understand, administrate and enforce.

State-of-the-art zoning regulations must be well organized and easily understood by those who do not possess advanced degrees in either law or community planning.  Here are the top ten ways for planning commissioners and elected officials to apply the principles of brevity and clarity to a zoning ordinance:

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