The Most Ridiculous Face Palm Issue in Modern Planning and Zoning
I have been at this Placemaking for a while. I have met so many sincere and dedicated people who want to make their town or neighborhood better. I have been in the room when they confront the reason their town’s planning process has failed. It is never pretty.
Most states mandate municipalities to adopt a Comprehensive Plan and keep it updated regularly. The shorthand is Comp Plan. The intended purpose is for local elected officials, senior staff, and local residents to create a policy framework for the manner in which their town with build/rebuild. Producing these documents can be pretty expensive. Most places make a real effort to engage their residents and community leaders to help write the Comp Plan and to get the work out so that folks can pay attention while it is still in draft form. Eventually the Comp Plan is presented to the city council accompanied by a lengthy staff report recommending approval. The council votes to adopt the Comp Plan as a key policy document they expect will guide the current and future elected officials and senior staff in conducting the town’s business.
In the Implementation or Work Plan sections of the Comp Plan, there is typically a paragraph describing the need to revise the local zoning code and development ordinances to make sure the policies in the Comp Plan are going to get turned into reality.
A couple years go by and there are no changes or revisions to the local zoning. And that’s the problem. The Comp Plan is a policy document. The zoning code is a law. The law is written with greater precision and if the law contradicts the policy, the law is what folks need to follow until the city council changes the law…
I have seen good developers propose excellent projects which totally deliver the stated intent of the policy guidance in the Comp Plan get shot down based upon the leftover zoning code from 20 years ago. When this plays out there is often an earnest young planning staffer in the mix who is shocked and heartbroken to see this happen. There are frequently folks sitting on the city council who do not understand that leftover zoning code actually prevents the diligent realization of the policies of the Comp Plan.
I used to think this was an unfortunate and isolated occurrence. With time I found that is is common enough that people tend to just accept the contradiction that crushes the hopes and dreams of local residents.
Read your Comp Plan and then read your zoning code. On the first pass it may seem like you probably aren’t fully understanding the two documents. The two documents seem to have been put together with serious intent and a lot of technical detail, so a casual reader might think it is them, they are not getting it.
The best Comp Plan can be crippled or canceled by a mediocre zoning code. It really does happen.