Land use planning is integral to the successful operation of cities and communities, providing efficient business operations, preventing pollution of the environment and providing places where people can reside and work.
Land planning professionals play a crucial role in protecting open space, farmland, cultural resources and critical environmental areas while creating distinctive, attractive and livable communities.
Residential
Residential land use planning ensures that communities have sufficient housing, such as single-family homes, townhomes and multi-family apartments. It may also include daycare centers, parks and schools.
Residential development must strike a balance between economic sustainability and environmental preservation. Traditional sprawling growth patterns tend to consume resources at rates beyond their replenishment potential and have lasting ecological ramifications.
Land use planners must also take zoning ordinances into consideration when planning residential land use. Zoning laws govern certain developments, forcing them to adhere to local soil conditions and structures.
Professional land-use planners are adept at understanding local zoning ordinances and can save you time during due diligence by alerting you of any potential problems, helping to avoid costly errors that would otherwise prove hard to remedy later.
Commercial
Land use planning is an invaluable way to assist businesses in expanding in ways that make sense for the area and are beneficial to its community, such as locating commercial spaces near transportation hubs, activity centers or residential neighborhoods.
Recreational lands include golf courses, parks, sports fields, fishing ponds and playgrounds – among many other amenities – making up recreational land a key component in improving the overall quality of life for communities. Many recreational areas boast walking trails that add further appeal.
Land planners can assess your property to make sure it conforms to zoning regulations and soil conditions that support the project in mind. Furthermore, they work in cooperation with local governments to develop comprehensive community development plans which encompass city parks, open spaces, urban centers and social areas for all age groups; walking and biking paths as well.
Industrial
Poor land use planning in the US led to industrial cities with epidemic-level diseases and alarmingly high crime rates, so proper land use planning is crucial in order to provide communities with sufficient space.
Land use planning plays an integral part in environmental justice. This means ensuring equal resources are accessible for all community members without discrimination; and providing equitable access to jobs, healthcare and education services.
Zoning categories typically encompass urban land, agricultural land, forest land, transport land and open space. A zoning system can also be used to regulate property development by setting restrictions on size and height of buildings; furthermore it may define land for specific purposes like restricting how many MH communities can be constructed in an area.
Open Space
Open space refers to any land not extensively developed for commercial, industrial or residential uses. It may include parks, scenic areas, trail systems, forests and woodlands, wetlands and watershed corridors as well as farmland, historic properties or cemeteries – among many other examples.
Open spaces are essential components of quality of life for residents and visitors. They bring relief and contrast to urban and suburban settings, define and buffer communities, and serve as linkages between large open spaces and concentrated centers of activity.
Communities that create their own natural resource inventories and plans are best equipped to make strategic decisions regarding the conservation of priority open space features. An example of such cooperation across boundaries can be seen in Rochester and Wawarsing (Ulster County), who based their work off of the NY4P Natural Resources Inventory methodology.
Recreation
As resources tighten, planning for recreation has never been more crucial. Park and recreation agencies serve as key agents in managing community open space, outdoor recreation programs and ecological functions.
Formal plans provide a framework for making rational and systematic decisions, helping avoid human tendencies toward decisions based on predisposition, bias, inadequate analysis, group think, insular perspectives or resistance to change. They also result in plans that are more effective, efficient, fair, reasoned and defensible.
An effective recreation plan includes long-term visitor capacity requirements, facility locations and sizes, management strategies, actions, quality standards, and monitoring programs. A plan should also be flexible enough to adapt to changing conditions, technologies, uses, or uses that have not existed previously. Plans should also be reviewed regularly in order to reflect new information, trends or changes that arise.