What Managers Should Know About Planning

1. What Managers Should Know About Planning Andrea Brown, AICP Michigan Association of Planning Michigan Local Government Management Association (MLGMA) July 28, 2016

2. Michigan Association of Planning A Chapter of the American Planning Association Ann Arbor Office 1919 W. Stadium, Suite 4 Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Detroit Office Grand Park Center 28 W. Adams St., Suite 1000 Detroit, MI 48226

3. About MAP • A 501(c)3 non-profit organization • Established in 1945: More than 70 years • Membership based organization • Nearly 4,000 members from across Michigan. • We are the Michigan Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA)

4. About MAP We Serve . . . • Professional community planners • Local elected officials • Appointed land use decision makers like planning commissioners, zoning board members, and others. • Ancillary and related professionals like architects, landscape architects, attorneys, engineers, city managers, and more

5. Shameless MAP Plug

6. MAP Mission • MAP exists so that Michigan will consist of healthy, safe, attractive, prosperous, equitable and successful communities based on quality community planning • MAP provides information education advocacy

7. MonthlyMichigan Plannermagazine Books and publications addressing your educational needs Robust Web Resources planningmi.org MAP Provides Information, Tools and Resources

8. MAP Books & Publications • Planning Commissioner Toolkit • Zoning Board of Appeals Toolkit • Planning Commission Guidelines • Smart Growth Tactics • Filling the Gaps: Environmental Protection Option for Local Governments 2nd Ed. • Capital Improvements Programs: A How-To Guide (+DVD) • Access Management Guidebook • Michigan Zoning Guidebook: for Citizens and Local Officials • Michigan Planning Guidebook: for Citizens and Local Officials

9. Education and Training • MAP Annual Planning Michigan Conference • October 26 to 28, 2016 • Kalamazoo Radisson • Transportation Bonanza December 1, 2016 • Lansing Center • On Site Programming delivers training to your staff and elected and appointed bodies • Topics include: • Capital Improvements Planning • Risk Management • Community Engagement • Planning and Zoning Essentials and Advanced

10. Planners and ManagersMAP Committee Jay Cravens, AICP, City of Bloomfield Hills Tim Dolehanty, AICP, Ingham County Juan Ganum, City of Bridgman Jon Lynch, AICP, City of Midland Jennifer Morris, AICP, City of Jackson Dan Swallow, AICP, City of Tecumseh Mark Wollenweber, AICP, City of Grosse Pointe Woods And Brad Kaye, AICP, City of Midland

11. What is a Planner? • A professional educated and experienced in municipal planning, often AICP Certified • Planners know how to build great communities • They work with residents; the city manager/administrator, mayor and elected body, municipal agencies like public safety, engineering, parks, utilities, building; businesspeople, and others to make the community the best place to live. • Planners make sure cities are built in a smart way, so roads can fit all of the traffic the buildings create, neighborhoods still have parks and playgrounds, there are places for trees and wildlife, there are enough stores to find the things we need, that there are jobs and housing for everyone. • Planners keep up with contemporary and innovative Best Practices.

12. Planners and Managers:Why Do We Plan? Provide a common vision Give direction to new and existing leaders Best use of limited resources Provide a strategic focus To prepare a community for emerging opportunities Qualify for grants To create quality communities

13. Why is Planning so Important for Michigan Communities? • Means of retaining and increasing population • Increasing tax base and property values • Increasing stability, predictability • Increasing jobs and businesses • Better quality of life

14. Why Planning is Important to City Managers • Thinking like a planner • Long range, look to the future • Project management and facilitation • Balance short term solutions with long term vision • Planning and zoning processes can be scaled to other municipal functions • Systems planning approach: Planning touches just about every municipal department

15. Planning Touches Every Municipal Department Public Works – Are pipes (water, sewer) adequately sized to accommodate new development? How old is the system and what maintenance is anticipated? Public Safety – are there enough police officers and fire fighters per population? Where are new facilities being constructed? Parks and Recreation – Adequate active and passive recreation per capita; trails and greenways; connectors? Storm Water Management – Where are the floodways and flood plains, water bodies and wetlands; general topography? Who manages detention? Housing – Is public housing being designed and located so that it best serves residents? On public transportation lines, near to parks and shopping, outside of flood ways? Building Department – Does the development review and permitting process include tracking and filing best practices? Enforcement and compliance adequate to ensure good development? Transportation - Does road design integrate best practices, like round - abouts, shared roads (sharos), and road diets?

17. Planning: Why is it Important and Why Should You Care? • Like everything else in local government, • State and Federal laws apply • Michigan Planning Enabling Act (MPEA) • Michigan Zoning Enabling Act (MZEA) • Land Division Act • Condominium Act • Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) • Airport Zoning Act • Right to Farm Act

18. Planning: Why is it Important and Why Should You Care? • But Wait: There’s More! • Clean Water Act (CWA) • National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) • National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) • Federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) – June 2015 Rules Change • Federal Telecommunications Act (FTA) • Mineral Resources • Transportation • Public Lands

19. Planning: Why is it Important and Why Should You Care? • And if that’s not enough…there is case law too. • Eminent Domain/Takings • Kelo V New London • Water Access • Fair Housing • Disparate Impact • Spot Zoning • Developer Extractions • Signs and Billboards • Reed v Town of Gilbert • Just to name a few

20. Beyond Legal Compliance Issues, What Else Does Planning Offer Managers? • Every community needs a vision and must be managed to achieve that vision – this means engaging many municipal departments and residents and businesses • Planning, at its very core, is aspirational in nature and is intended to move towards the defining and accomplishing community goals. • Planning embraces a holistic view of your community – where you are going, not just what you are doing day by day. • It has a long range emphasis, not simply year by year or issue by issue. • When properly managed it is a vehicle to define and achieve the goals and objectives of your elected body and your citizens.

21. Proactive (Plan!) Vs. Reactive • Protect and enhance community character • Create special places • Promote collaboration • Set the stage for development and redevelopment • A master plan is a guide to the future, and allows all municipal departments and elected and appointed leaders to know and understand the envisioned future AND how to get there. • A plan is a blueprint for the future, with goals, objectives and strategies that provide the community with a guidebook for decisions. • Thoughtful, deliberative: Planning!

22. What triggers Planning? It’s often the 500 – pound gorilla • One major development can change a community’s planning needs…. • …haphazard development packages and the sudden arrival of large facilities affect communities…. • …unprepared communities must reevaluate their view of the future.

23. What triggers Planning? New people, new ideas • Elections and new appointments bring change to community boards and commissions… • …new and long term residents bring past experiences with them… • …every person brings various experiences, ideas, and desires for the future.

24. What triggers Planning? 5 year requirement Planning Enabling Act requires that Master plan be reviewed every 5 years. Planning Commission can decide to re-adopt or amend existing, or create a new master plan.

25. AchievingResults • Big visions can be intimidating…Where do you start? • The planning process is adaptable and scalable, lending itself to application in many differing circumstances. • Applying the planning process can help transform big visions into achievable results. • It can also help provide managers, their elected bodies and their communities with the one key ingredient that is necessary to the success of a big vision – the understanding and belief that the project is actually doable!

26. Planning, You, and Your Elected Body • Planning can help you help your elected body in many ways: • Structure, process and guidance for well reasoned and defensible planning and zoning decisions • Help structure discussion and decisions towards the development of Capital Improvement Plans (CIPs) and long term capital infrastructure financing • Provide a mechanism to aid in developing community goals and objectives that support the budgeting process • Implement community vision through ordinance development and site plan/development review processes. • What does that mean to your community? • How will your community achieve those goals (your plan).

27. Planning provides structure and guidance for well reasoned and defensible planning and zoning decisions • Elected body appoints planning commission and zoning board members. • Planning staff manage the boards and commissions • Planning staff are educated and trained and provide boards and commissions with the tools they need to make sound and legally defensible decisions based on best and most contemporary planning practice. • Planning staff are a manager’s conduit to – or liaison between - the elected body. Many PC decisions are advisory; the elected body makes the final decision on rezonings, ordinance amendments, sometimes site plans. • A City Manager well-informed about planning and zoning helps its elected body in turn make sound decisions.

28. Planning helps structure discussion and decisions towards the development of CIP and long term capital infrastructure financing • CIP lists the proposed new public facilities • by location • date of construction, • cost, means of financing, sponsor, • relationship to other facilities (if pertinent). • Projects are prioritized across the entire community and over time. • The CIP covers a six year period. • It is updated annually. The first year is capital budget. A CIP is required by the Planning Enabling Act (with very few exceptions and all exceptions related to townships)

29. Who is Responsible for the CIP? • Sec. 65. of MPEA: • To further the desirable future development of the local unit of government under the master plan, a planning commission, after adoption of a master plan, shall annually prepare a capital improvements program of public structures and improvements, unless the planning commission is exempted from this requirement by charter or otherwise. • To exempt the PC, language doing so must be included in the ordinance establishing the PC

30. CIP Requirements Who Prepares It? If the planning commission is exempted, the legislative body must prepare the CIP or delegate the job to the chief elected or chief administrative official.

31. Why Prepare a CIP? • Optimizes use of taxpayer dollars • Matches community needs with resources • Generate broad community support • Anticipate and plan for major investment • Create transparency in government • Encourage economic development • Efficient administration • Financial stability • Better positions the community for Federal and State grant eligibility and for borrowing • May improve bond rating • Implement Community Plan and Vision

32. CIP is an Implementation Tool for the Master Plan • Master Plan lists priorities, goals and objectives • CIP is a primary tool for making the Master Plan happen • CIP is listing of projects identified in the Master Plan, and from other sources too

33. CIP Process and Roles

34. Shameless MAP Plug

35. Planning provides a mechanism to develop goals and objectives that integrate with the budgeting process • Update or add to Master Plan Goals and Objectives those elements that will improve Quality of Life. • The Michigan Planning Enabling Act requires that community Master Plans be reviewed and updated (if needed) every 5 years. • Updates are excellent opportunity to engage the community, study change, and update community goals and objectives • Demographic Changes (aging or school age populations, talent class, poverty levels, educational attainment). • Gain or loss of major employer • State or Federal streets and highway projects proposed, and the impact locally? • State Agency or other industry best practices that should be explored, shared, and included in Master Plan or CIP or Budget to implement.

36. Community Engagement and Public Participation • Community engagement: The process of soliciting and encouraging participation of the general public or specific groups in the planning decision making process. • Traditional (and MINIMUM!) examples of public input actions include: • Public Hearings • Public Input Sessions • Public Comment Periods • Meaningful Community Engagement must be more than these traditional actions.

37. Community Engagement and Public Participation Different Audiences = Different Results Beyond Traditional Practices • Community Engagement can be done in exciting and new ways. • Social Media • Citizen Engagement Platforms • Pop-up Design Charrettes • Community Surveys • Focus Groups • Workshops • Each type of engagement listed is not always appropriate for every planning project. Knowing your intended audience is the best way to determine the most appropriate action.

38. Community Engagement and Public Participation Community Should Use Both Basic and Proactive Methods as Appropriate • Basic Methods: • Public Notice Requirements (minimum legally required) • Newspaper Posting • Website Posting • Flier postings on community hall door • Announcements at governing body meeting • Post card mailings • Attachments to water bills • Local Cable notification

39. Community Engagement and Public Participation Proactive Practices • Individual Mailings • Charrettes • One on One interviews • Canvassing • Community Workshops • Focus Groups • Social Networking (Facebook, twitter) • Crowdsourcing • Survey Millennial Friendly Approaches: Pinterest – Texting – Gaming – Snap Chat – Reddit - Facebook

40. Public Participation: Other Methods • Make a phone chain on key issues • Community representatives meet and greet / Open House • Town hall meetings • Newsletters / E-newsletters • Task force • Visioning sessions • Stories and advertising in local papers, op ed, general interest • Posters/signs in local establishments and civic buildings • Local Cable PSA / Television advertising

41. Community Engagement / Public Participation • Why it is Important (and how planners can help) • Done well, it involves residents in the decision making process. • Provides an opportunity for consensus building. • Can increase the likelihood that projects or activities will be widely accepted. • Taps the problem solving capacity of community members. • Improves residents’ knowledge about complex issues. • Empowers different groups of the community, particularly hard to reach and vulnerable populations (students, seniors, minorities, lower income, immigrants, etc.) • Creates local networks of community members. • Increases trust in local governance. • Grooms future leaders

42. Community Engagement / Public Participation • Know Your Audience • Develop actions that target specific audiences. • Specify specific groups, similar to standard marketing practices, and develop actions to best reach these audiences. • Examples: • Twitter campaign towards younger audiences • Print newspaper for older audiences • Fine tune public notices toward specific audiences: • Examples: • Notice to Parkdale Neighborhood Residents • Focus Group for Users of the Farmers Market • Avoid “General Public” notices were appropriate.

43. Community Engagement / Public Participation • Balancing the Desires of Various Groups • Recognize that all groups have their own wants and opinions. • Community Engagement that targets different groups provides a way to uncover what might otherwise not be known to local leaders. • Public Input does not mean having to do “what the public wants.” It simply allows for meaningful gathering of the wants and opinions of different stakeholders within the community to aid the decision making process. • Inform • Consult • Advise • Collaborate • Empower

44. Community Engagement / Public Participation • Encouraging Public Input is Not Always Appropriate • When the public cannot have a role in the decision making process, encouraging community input may not always be the right course of action. • Examples: • Projects where adherence to a set of criteria requires approval, such as site plan review. • Administrative Approvals • By Right Approvals

45. Community Engagement / Public Participation Remember: Common Challenges but Diverse Interests

46. Workshop offered as On Site Program or at MAP’s Spring Training Series. Shameless MAP Plug • COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT Workshop • Knowing which public engagement technique • to use for which audience, and managing the • public participation process so that all voices can • be heard, all the while ensuring that the input is • meaningful and relevant is one of a community’s • greatest challenges. A process that can be rife with • politics on one hand, and rewarding and beneficial • on another, is part and parcel of the eff ort. This • interactive session explains best practices on • how to engage with community members and stakeholders in a meaningful way.

47. Good PlanningSupports Overall Community Strength • Place is the domain of planners and managers, together • The Economics of Place • Residents are Demanding More Amenities- Walkable Urban Centers, High Quality Parks, Bikepaths, Access to Waterways… Have you planned for that? • Rise of the Creative Class, and Who’s Your City? Richard Florida • “The creative economy is making where to live the most important decision of your life.” • Millennials in particular are first choosing where to live and then finding a job.

48. Good Planning Makes the Manager’s Job Easier • Proper Infrastructure Planning- Making Your Resources Go Further and Minimizes these Questions • Capital Improvements Program (CIP): Why did we tear up that brand new street? • Connectivity (Fewer Dead Ends, Less Congestion): Why did you skip plowing my street? • Non Motorized Facilities (R.O.W. and Integration w/ Destinations and Parks): How can you fit a bike path in that right-of-way? • Water and Sewer: What do you mean we need to upsize that main and add a pump station? • Storm Water Management: We experienced flooding again! What are the FAR requirements, are we requiring too much parking, do we have sustainability best practices embedded in our master plan?

49. Other Benefits of “Good Planning” • More prepared for changing needs • Understand Your Community Demographics (Population, Age structure, Housing preferences) • Decisions like how many EMT’s or paramedics are needed, or prioritizing improvements to parks and recreation facilities. • Adapt to Changing Preferences (Placemaking) • Decisions like supporting a DDA project (or not), or performing a road diet and building a bike lane. • Spend limited resources more effectively • Could help save costs on infrastructure projects like decisions on new water storage or sizing an EQ basin.

50. How Do I Convince My Council and Department Heads We Need “Good Planning?” All it takes is time and money… We are operating in a shrinking resources environment… lower cost options? Planning is Not Urgent- Nobody is getting “hurt”… or, are they? The State law says we just have to “review” the Master Plan every 5-years… what is the appropriate level of review?