Land use planning involves creating communities that offer people high quality of life. This involves providing adequate space for residential development, job opportunities that increase tax bases, and environmental sustainability.
Before beginning planning, it’s essential to reach out to local residents. Ask them their opinions regarding current conditions and any improvements that can be made.
Residential
Land use planning for residential purposes involves deciding where and how homes are built, while also helping ensure they are located near amenities, jobs, and complementary uses. Planning may also include setting specific setbacks, landscaping needs, or site arrangement specifications that must be fulfilled in order for development to proceed smoothly.
Furthermore, this can encourage design guidelines which promote quality development and placemaking – elements essential for creating attractive and livable communities.
Affordable and workforce housing development are integral elements of economic sustainability, expanding employment opportunities that expand non-residential tax bases, as well as building community and environmental resilience. Reducing barriers to affordable and market rate housing options ensure that New Yorkers have more housing options.
Commercial
Land use planning for commercial purposes involves regulating businesses to meet the needs of their communities, with businesses that operate in an environment conducive to supporting residents having greater success attracting and retaining employees.
Poor land-use planning in the early 1900s led to industrial cities experiencing spreading diseases and high crime rates, but this problem could have been avoided with proper land-use planning. Land use planning also provides communities a means of balancing competing private interests – for instance John Public may want to store oil drums on his property while Jane Citizen wants to open a restaurant nearby.
Industrial
In the past, when residential housing was constructed too close to industrial areas, residents suffered from respiratory illnesses caused by chemical fumes. Unfortunately, it took some time before people realized how poor planning had created harm for a community.
Commercial and industrial land zoning allows warehouses, restaurants, and office buildings in designated areas – businesses which help create economic diversity in any county.
Live-work zones allow residents to operate businesses from within their apartments, which significantly lowers development costs and enhances local economies.
Recreational
Before purchasing recreational land for hunting, fishing, hiking or simply relaxing with family and friends, it’s essential that you understand zoning laws, legal access and terrain analysis before making your decisions. A realtor that specializes in land sales may be your ideal partner here.
Setting expectations for recreation areas across municipalities of different populations can be challenging, yet available park statistics as well as partial information on schools and other public sites with an auxiliary recreational value can give an indication of an optimal target range; typically 30-50% is desirable.
Agriculture
To be effective, a land-use plan must ensure that any areas designated as suitable for specific activities actually support them. For instance, it might define an entire area as suitable for housing before discovering that its soil conditions or other environmental considerations prevent such activity from being supported on-site.
Prior to making changes to a land-use plan, representatives from those most directly impacted should be consulted by the planning team. This will allow them to better understand the situation on the ground so that any proposed modifications don’t appear as something being forced upon people from on high.
Forestry
Forests play an essential role in maintaining global sustainability. They store carbon, protect habitats and meet diverse human needs – so it is crucial that forests are managed in an ecologically sound manner.
Land use planning for forestry includes identifying suitable parcels of land for various uses, fostering synergies among land uses and creating governance structures to manage landscapes in a sustainable fashion. It can take place either locally, landscape-wide or nationally.
TKCP’s Land-Use Plans in the YUS Landscape provide an essential framework for sustainable development that fosters healthy environments, strong communities and cultural vitality, secure customary land tenure and economically and ecologically viable livelihoods.
Other
Land use planning serves as the cornerstone for zoning laws which restrict certain developments for environmental protection purposes. Careful land use planning helps safeguard the environment, conserve resources, promote social engagement and strengthen communities while simultaneously meeting economic, industrial and transportation requirements.
Without proper planning, urban areas would become chaotic; industrial plants would pollute both air and water sources; traffic congestion would worsen; economic inequity would deepen further; housing disparities among different income levels would exacerbate. Employing an equity lens when making land use decisions could help address such concerns.