Friday, March 12, 2010 at 9:00 a.m.

Hosted by the Michigan Wetlands Association, Agriculture and Natural Resources Week

Kellogg Center, Michigan State University

Are You Interested in Wetland Science, Policy and Stewardship?

This meeting will provide a great opportunity to hear about current wetland issues and learn about the formation of a Michigan Wetlands Association.  The meeting will be of significance to those interested in wetland science, policy and stewardship in Michigan, including:

• Wetland professionals
• University faculty and students
• Environmental and conservation organization staff
• State, federal, local and tribal agency staff
• Interested individuals

The meeting will include presentations from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment and other wetland professionals on current wetland issues, including recent amendments to Michigan’s wetland law, changes in wetland delineation methods, and new wetland monitoring and assessment efforts.  A session on formation of a new Michigan Wetlands Association will also be included.

Please register for this meeting by Friday March 5, 2010.  There is no registration fee but registration is limited. Box lunches will be provided to the first 100 individuals to register, so register soon!

Funding for this meeting is being provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) Wetlands Program as part of a continued effort to improve communication on wetland issues through workshops and conferences.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Registration Form:

Attendee Name:________________________________________________

Firm Name:___________________________________________________

Address:_____________________________________________________

Phone:______________________ Email:___________________________

Fill out and attach this registration form to an e-mail to “MiWetlands (at) yahoo (dot) com.”

Directions to the Kellogg Center are available at http://www.hfs.msu.edu/kellogg/about/location.html

We at Building Place are celebrating a pair of milestones this week, thanks to our readers: Our Building Place Notebook online newsletter received its…

…5,000th visitor last week,
and passed the 10,000 individual page-views milestone as well!

We also don’t want to forget to welcome new subscribers to our email updates. We send one or two email messages per month maximum to alert our subscribers about new Building Place Notebook articles, new website features, legislative alerts, and exclusive email content too.

Click here to sign up for your email alerts

As the Building Place Notebook begins its second year, we’re pleased to be your online resource for jargon-free information on community planning, zoning, and local economic development topics!

If there is a topic you would like us to cover in the Building Place Notebook, leave a comment here or send us an email and we’ll get right on it! In the meantime, here are some tracks that may interest you:

• Economic Development
• Planning and Zoning Fiction
  
• Zoning
• Development
• Law
  

Regards,

Rodney C. Nanney, AICP
The Zoning Guru

2010 Michigan Townships Association Educational Conference Session

Thank you to everyone who attended our recent session on regulating small wind turbines at the recent Michigan Townships Association conference in Grand Rapids. Click here to view our PowerPoint presentation, and to download the handout materials. Click here to contact Mr. Nanney directly with any additional questions.

The Michigan Commission on Agriculture adopted a Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practice (GAAMP) for farm markets (effective January 2010).

NOTE:  Under Michigan’s sweeping Right to Farm legislation, if the subject is covered by GAAMP standards issued by the Michigan Department of Agriculture, then it entirely preempts local zoning, including any special use approval or prohibition of the land use!

What is a “farm market” under the new GAAMP?

The GAAMP sets forth that a farm market is an “area” where transactions between a farm market operator and customers take place (not necessarily but might be a building/structure).

• At least 50 percent of the products marketed/offered for sale (measured over a five year timeframe) must be from the affiliated farm. The “50 percent” is normally measured by use of floor space.

• The farm market must be “affiliated” with a farm, meaning a farm under the same ownership or control (e.g. leased) as the farm market, but does not have to be located on the same property where the farm production occurs.

• The market must be located on land where local land use zoning allows for agriculture and its related activities.

• Marketing is part of a farm market, and can include:

1. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA),
2. U-Pick operations (also known as pick your own (PYO)), and
3. Associated activities and services to attract and entertain customers (e.g., cooking demonstrations, corn mazes, tours, fishing pond, hay rides, horseback riding, petting farms, picnic areas, etcetera (a much longer list is in the GAAMP)).

What elements of a “farm market” remain under local control?

Services to attract and entertain customers are subject to local zoning ordinances, state, federal laws, and associated rules and regulations:

1. If in a building/structure, the structure must comply with the Stille-Derosset-Hale Single State Construction Code Act (MCL 125.1501 et seq.) and placement of the structure shall comply with local zoning, including set-backs from property lines and right-of-ways.
2. Parking may be on grass, gravel, or pavement; one vehicle parking space for every 200 sq. ft. of interior retail space or 1,000 sq. ft. of outdoor activity space.
3. Driveways must have an Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), county road commission, or village/city street agency permits.
4. Signs outside the farm market must comply with sign regulations of MDOT, and all applicable local regulations.
5. External lighting must comply with all applicable local, state, and federal regulations for lighting outside the farm market.

Remember, if the subject is covered in GAAMPs, then it preempts zoning.  The Farm Market GAAMP is a mix of subjects that can, and cannot, be regulated by zoning or other local ordinances.

Additional Resources:

Copy of the “farm market” GAAMP: (PDF file)  (Website)

Copy of updated Land Use Series “Restrictions on Zoning Authority“:  (PDF file)

Copy of updated Right to Farm Act decision tree:  (PDF file)

Copy of updated Planning and Zoning for Animal Agriculture in Michigan: A Handbook for Local Governments by Pat Norris:  (PDF file)

For more information on this topic, contact Rodney C. Nanney, AICP directly about speaking to your community (see contact information at the bottom of this page), or click here to ask about how Building Place can help you turn your zoning ordinance into an effective community building tool.

© 2010 Building Place - Rodney C. Nanney, AICP (www.buildingplace.net) - All rights reserved. Contact us here for information regarding reprinting, redistribution, or other use of original material. Excerpts may be quoted with proper attribution and a link to this website.

New US Rules To Favor Streetcars, Other ‘Livability’ Projects

By Josh Mitchell of Dow Jones Newswires  (excerpted)

The Obama administration said Wednesday it would begin steering more funds toward…

…streetcars, local bus routes and other projects aimed at reducing sprawl….

The change will affect how the agency distributes some $2 billion a year in transit funds, with administrators taking into account a project’s “carbon footprint” and other factors previously not given much consideration, officials said.

Rules imposed by the Bush administration restricted transit-construction funds largely to projects that met “very narrow cost and performance criteria,” LaHood said in a speech before a transportation conference in Washington.

“Going forward, we’ll consider all factors that help communities reduce their carbon footprint, spur economic activity and relieve congestion,” LaHood said.

Dear Management Doctor,

I attended your 2-day seminar for Planning Directors a couple of years ago and found it to be quite informative.  Some of the staff I now directly or indirectly supervise are not planners but are trained building inspectors or maintenance staff.  I imagine that many Community Development Directors find themselves now having supervisory responsibilities over … engineers, inspectors, operations/maintenance, information technologies or administrative support to name a few.

Their respective skill-sets can be widely varying and can pose interesting supervisory challenges, particularly if the Director is not an expert in “their field.”  I believe there would be a significant amount of interest in future sessions on specifically supervising or directing non-planner municipal staffs.

- “Non-Planner Challenged”

—————————————————————

About Zucker Systems, Inc.

“Zucker Systems takes its lead from the Japanese word ‘kaizen‘ (’a constant search for a better way’). We continually search for a more effective and efficient way to do things. These better ways produce greater service to our clients, as well as helping to create better communities. … We see ourselves as agents of change.

“To our knowledge, Zucker Systems is the only consulting firm in the United States that specializes in the analysis of planning, building and community development functions and related departments. Organization, management and process consultation is primarily completed for city and county government and non-profit clients.”

—————————————————————

Dear Non-Planner Challenged,

The key to managing people is starting with the recognition that we are all different and can be motivated by different things.  Here are a few thoughts to help you get started.

Personality

Different types of personality often need to be managed in different ways.  Thus, I would start by trying to figure out the personality of each person being managed. … This is easy to illustrate with two types that I use.  One is called the “thinker” the other “socialize.”

• When I work with the “thinker” I want to have my facts together and transact communication at that level.
• For the “socialize” I start by talking about the latest movies over a cup of coffee.

Engineers

A friend of mine did his college thesis on the differences between planners and engineers.  You can read about this in my book, What Your Planning Professors Forgot To Tell You….  Planners tend to be people oriented and Engineers object oriented. … They likely do need to be managed differently but a good manager can figure that out.  We planners need the engineer’s hard skills.  The engineers need the planner’s soft skills.

Building Staff

I think managing building staff is particularly important since most Community Development Departments include the building permit function.  Most of these departments are managed by the planner, rather than a Certified Building Official.   I think the management issues stem from:

• The planner often treats the building staff as second class citizens and fail to see how to integrate the planning and building function.   Start by doing some ride-alongs with building inspectors and sit and observe a plan checker for an hour or two.
• Recognize that you are not a Certified Building Official and thus need to respect and follow the technical decisions.
• Get very clear on the mission. Get the inspectors to see themselves as problem solvers and trainers of the private sector builders, not regulators or policemen.

By the way, in my studies I have found that a high percentage of building people are “socializer” personality types.

(T)he manager’s job is producing outstanding results with common ordinary people, just like you and me….  And yes, they may not be planners.

- The Management Doctor

Click here to read the entire article and more advice from The Management Doctor.

NOTE:  To find this article on the site, click on “management doctor responses” under “MANAGEMENT ARTICLES” - located on the left side of the page.

2010 U.S. Census:  Snowbird residents leaving for sunshine states need to be counted in Michigan!

Note:  For our readers outside of the Great Lakes State, “snowbirds” are Michigan residents who “migrate” from the state to live part of the year in warmer climates like Florida, the Caribbean, and similar places (Costa Rica and Belize are up and coming places for some wealthier snowbirds).

Michigan has more snowbirds than many other states, with an average of 2.1 percent of Michigan’s residents identified as part-year residents.  Most of Michigan’s part-year residents have their permanent homes in Michigan and spend the smaller part of the year in another state, which means they need to be counted in Michigan.

Michigan residents who spend a smaller portion of the year at a residence in another state should be sure to fill out the Census form for Michigan, and in your community.  Local governments should take steps now to help people understand the importance of telling the Census they are a resident of Michigan — rather than the state where they spend winter.

Why is this important?

For each Michigan resident who is missed by the Census or who is counted in a different state, over $1,000 in federal funds that should be allocated to Michigan each year will be spent elsewhere.

A single person not counted in Michigan in the 2010 Census means a loss of at least $10,000 in funds to Michigan, and a significant amount of money for your local government (revenue sharing, road funds, various grants, and much more which is computed in part on population.

What should local governments do?

Don‘t assume your residents to understand the importance of the census to local government funding.  Local governments need to be proactive - to take steps now to maximize resident response next year.

Information on the census should be included in local newsletters, on local government websites, and posted at government offices and senior centers.  Officials are also encouraged to contact local media (newspapers, radio stations, etc.) to alert them to the 2010 Census, and to educate reporters on its importance.

If desired, local units of government are free to duplicate and distribute this post to residents, local media, and other interested persons - all we ask is that the authorship information at the top and bottom of this post be included.

Kurt Schindler recommends that snowbird residents should following these steps when they receive 2020 U.S. Census forms at either their Michigan and/or out-of-state residence:

1. “Zero” should be entered on the Census form received at the second residence, as the number of people residing there, and the rest of the form should remain blank. It is also a good idea to write “usual residence elsewhere” on the form so that the Census Bureau will know the reason for entering zero.
2. If other individuals are occupying the home in Michigan while permanent residents are away, those completing the Census form should include the permanent residents.
3. If no one is staying at the Michigan home, residents should wait until returning to Michigan to complete the Census form. If a form hasn’t been received, Census personnel will contact residents between May and July.

© 2009 Building Place - Rodney C. Nanney, AICP (www.buildingplace.net) - All rights reserved. Contact us here for information regarding reprinting, redistribution, or other use of original material. Excerpts may be quoted with proper attribution and a link to this website.

The Zoning Guru has been asked variations of this same question many times.

Urban Designer… Developer… Zoning Officer… Master Planner… Planning Commissioner… Elected Official… Grant Administrator… Advocate the public interest… Department Manager… Consultant… Teacher… Coordinator… Downtown Redevelopment Specialist… etc., etc.

Planners wear many hats, and specialize in many areas of community building. Here is The Zoning Guru’s first attempt at…

…identifying the ABC’s of community planning.  Feel free to post your own versions or alternatives for various letters in the “Comments” box below!

The ABC’s of Planning

Advocate

Balance

Champion

Design

Establish

Fight for

Guide

Harmonize

Interpret

Justify

Kibitz

Lead

Map

Negotiate

Outline

Promote

Quantify

Recommend

Survey

Teach

Unify

Vindicate

Write

Xerox

Yawn (Late Night Meetings)

Zone

UPDATE:

Click here for another urban planner’s perspective on “What do Planners Do?”

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.

I Have a (Planning) Dream

(excerpted from the April 28, 2027 keynote address at the annual conference of the American Planning Association in Washington, D.C.)

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest APA conference in the history of the organization!

Three score years ago, a great American named John C. Portman, Jr. designed the first buildings of what would later become known as Edge City architecture. We now recognize that, with the demise of the automobile as the primary means of transportation in the United States, this momentous accomplishment, decried at the time, actually laid a new foundation that now stands before our profession as a series of endlessly fertile fields, ready for planting.

We have come to this hallowed shrine of city planning, the nation’s capital, to remind America’s planners of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of traditional planning practices.

Now is the time to make real the promises of urban design.

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of site plan review to the sunlit path of urban infill design and re-development.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of automotive dependency to the solid rock of urbanity. Now is the time to make the promise of community a reality for all God’s children.

It would be fatal for us, as a profession, to overlook the urgency of the moment. The endless sea of obsolete asphalt will not pass away until there is a new renaissance in urban design that ends the artificial isolation of suburban sprawl architecture by infilling new life among the islands of older structures.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, lamenting the loss of our car culture. I say to you, my friends, that even though we face difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day on the fertile fields of suburbia will rise new communities, walkable, accessible and full of life.

I have a dream that one day my own children will live in a nation of great urbanity, where their lives will not be determined by their access to transportation, but by the limits of their creativity and ingenuity.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, the isolated buildings of our Edge Cities, surrounded by endless parking lots, shall be re-connected into the web of our community, with boulevards, accessible public transit and pedestrian-friendly streets.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that across this great nation will rise, from the depths of these dead spaces on the urban fringe and shining like strings of jewels, new urban places, new communities and new life.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I will take back with me to my day-to-day life as a planner.

With this faith we, the planning profession, will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our auto-centered urban environment into a beautiful symphony of community life.

With this faith, working together, struggling together, we will rebuild this ‘land of the Pilgrim’s pride.’ If America is to be a great nation, this must become true!

And when this happens, when we rebuild suburbia, when we re-integrate the isolated office tower back into the great urban landscape, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children will be able to gather together in peace in our new urban spaces, singing together those immortal words,

“Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Click here to read other entries in our “planning literature” series. Your comments are welcome (see comment box below).

What do you think?

© 2009 Building Place - Rodney C. Nanney, AICP (www.buildingplace.net) - All rights reserved. Contact us here for information regarding reprinting, redistribution, or other use of this material. Excerpts may be quoted with proper attribution and a link to this website.

About the Author

As the principal planner and Zoning Guru for Building Place Consultants, Rodney C. Nanney, AICP is an innovative provider of solutions to community planning, zoning, and local economic development challenges. Mr. Nanney is a recognized zoning expert and the creator of the Place Zoning model for mixed-use neighborhoods and walkable communities.

An accomplished writer and public speaker, he also has the all-to-rare gift among planners of being able to effectively communicate planning and zoning concepts in plain language. He has spoken before audiences large and small, and as diverse as church groups, college students, elected officials, and elementary-age children.

Contact Mr. Nanney today about speaking at your next meeting, conference, or gathering (see below or click here to email Mr. Nanney directly).

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:

1. Seek out internship experiences.

Seek out a variety of internship opportunities during your college years. Working as an intern for local government is great experience, but also seek out other opportunities, including unpaid or short-term positions with real estate developers, rural communities, or small towns.

If necessary, create a position for yourself. Attend local planning commission and city council/township board meetings, and listen for opportunities to assist them with a special project. Arrange for an appointment with the mayor, city manager, supervisor, etc. to discuss their needs, and how you can help (be ready with your ideas!).

Make use of your college’s alumni network – there are likely to be hundreds of planning grads working in a wide variety of public and private sector organizations that would be willing to help you get your foot in the door.

Each “real world” experience on your resume makes you that much more employable after graduation.

2. Write a research paper.

The ability to communicate in writing is vital to your future success as a community planner. Research and write a paper of publishable quality on a planning-related topic, whether it’s required for your degree or not. A concise and well-written paper can become a valuable part of your portfolio of materials to present to prospective employers.

If you’re weak in a particular area (zoning, environmental analysis, economic development, historic preservation, etc.), researching, writing and consulting with a faculty advisor on the topic is a guaranteed way to become an “expert.”

FYI - Planning publications like Planning Commissioners Journal, Planning and Zoning News, your state APA chapter’s newsletter or magazine, and our own Building Place Notebook are always on the lookout for good material. Nothing adds professional credibility faster than being able to include “published author” on your resume.

3. Network.

Attend and volunteer at the annual conference held by your state chapter of the American Planning Association (APA). If possible, attend the national APA conference (unfortunately, the timing of this conference always seems to coincide with final exam week!). Take advantage of these and other conferences and educational workshops as a student. Often student rates are deeply discounted, and networking opportunities are numerous, if you seek them out.

It’s likely that many alumni of your college’s planning program attend these conferences. Find out who they are, learn about what they’re interested in, and seek out opportunities at conferences to talk with them.

4. Craft your Internet presence.

These days, virtually all employers are checking you out in the virtual world before deciding to meet with you in the real world. What a Google search says about you might be as important as what’s on your resume. Be careful what you post in a blog, MySpace, Facebook, or elsewhere, because nothing you upload or post is ever truly deleted off the Internet.

Also, a picture is worth…(well, you know), so think carefully before posting (or letting a friend post) that picture of yourself doing something really stupid. Also, if you don’t know what ’sexting’ is, good for you. If you do know, Don’t Do It!

Whether or not you have some less than flattering links online, there are always ways to improve your professional Internet presence. One of my favorites is LinkedIn.com. LinkedIn is a professional networking website, where you can create a detailed resume, connect with other professionals you know, and interact with people far and wide with common interests through LinkedIn Groups.

If you are seeking to craft your Internet presence, LinkedIn has the added benefit of showing up as a top search item on any Google search of your name. I always include a “link” to my LinkedIn profile on my resume, so that employers can easily find out more about my background, strengths, and who has recommended me.

5. Experience life.

If you have the means, take a month, a semester, a summer, or a year “off” to:

• Tour Italy, Scotland, or Australia.
• Work on a special project in London, England or London, Ontario (Canada).
• Assist with a community improvement project in Ghana or American Samoa.
• Participate in a habitat restoration project in Washington state.
• Assist with a historic preservation project in Gettysburg, PA.
• Volunteer with a summer recreation program for children in Toledo, OH.
• Become a volunteer aide at a senior center in Ypsilanti, MI.
• Volunteer for a neighborhood rebuilding project in New Orleans, LA.
• Go on a mission for your church.
• Learn a foreign language.
• Etc., etc., etc.

In other words…

Wherever you can, choose to expand your understanding of the world (people, places, markets, cultures, the environment, etc.) and your chosen profession. Your experience will look good on a resume, and may influence the direction of your life and career for years to come.

© 2009 Building Place - Rodney C. Nanney, AICP (www.buildingplace.net) - All rights reserved. Contact us here for information regarding reprinting, redistribution, or other use of this material. Excerpts may be quoted with proper attribution and a link to this website.

About the Author

As the principal planner and Zoning Guru for Building Place Consultants, Rodney C. Nanney, AICP is an innovative provider of solutions to community planning, zoning, and local economic development challenges. Mr. Nanney is a recognized zoning expert and the creator of the Place Zoning model for mixed-use neighborhoods and walkable communities.

An accomplished writer and public speaker, he also has the all-to-rare gift among planners of being able to effectively communicate planning and zoning concepts in plain language. He has spoken before audiences large and small, and as diverse as church groups, college students, elected officials, and elementary-age children.

Contact Mr. Nanney today about speaking at your next meeting, conference, or gathering (see below or click here to email Mr. Nanney directly).