Best Practices
Well-planned communities with a balance of housing, jobs, shopping, schools and recreation give people the option of walking, biking, or using transit rather than driving. This results in lower greenhouse gas emissions and also promotes physical activity and more vibrant, healthy and sustainable communities.
Land Use & Community Design Goals
- Create communities and neighborhoods that are attractive, safe and convenient for walkers and bicyclists.
- Orient new development to capitalize on transit system investments and services.
- Adopt policies that promote compact and efficient development in new and existing communities.
- Incorporate greenhouse gas emissions considerations into the General Plan and environmental review process.
- Establish planning processes that encourage reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
- Increase transportation choices.
The table below offers specific suggestions on how to achieve these goals. You can download the entire Best Practices Framework under Documents & Resources on the right side of this page. Links to relevant case stories are provided under specific Best Practice suggestions, or you can see a list of related ILG Climate Leadership Stories.
Land Use & Community Design
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| Goal |
Best Practice |
| Create communities and neighborhoods that are attractive, safe and convenient for walkers and bicyclists.
See also Efficient Transportation section.
|
- Assess and report on pedestrian and bicycle conditions in existing communities and neighborhoods.
- Develop a community-wide pedestrian and bicycle plan and capital program that maximizes the potential for residents to walk or bicycle within and between neighborhoods.
Example (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Require new commercial developments to install bicycle parking facilities and other cyclist amenities at a level commensurate with the number of employees or square footage.
- Adopt and implement a community-wide pedestrian and bicycle plan.
- Provide bicycle access to transit services on major transit corridors and other routes that may attract bicyclists, such as routes serving schools and colleges.
- Install traffic calming devices and other measures to reduce traffic speeds and volumes and increase the safety and feasibility of bicycling and walking.
- Implement design standards that require streets and sidewalks to be designed for multi-modal mobility and access, including walking and bicycling, to ensure that new development is designed, sited and oriented to facilitate pedestrian, bicycle and other mobility and access.
Examples (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
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| Orient new development to capitalize on transit system investments and services.
See also Efficient Transportation section.
|
- Provide incentives and remove zoning and other barriers to mixed-use and higher intensity development at transit nodes and along transit corridors (existing and planned).
Examples (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Require new development at transit nodes and along transit corridors to meet planning and design standards to generate, attract, and facilitate transit ridership as a condition of approval.
- Integrate park-and-ride lots with multi-use facilities.
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| Adopt policies that promote compact and efficient development in new and existing communities.
See also Efficient Transportation and Green Building sections.
|
- Inventory infill development sites. Plan, zone and provide incentives for new development and renovation of existing uses in identified infill areas.
Example:
- Adopt and enforce land use ordinances and regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Examples include prioritizing mixed uses and infill development, and providing more transportation and housing choices.
Examples (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Require new housing and mixed use developments be built to the LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) standard or its equivalent.
Example (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Provide expedited application processing for development projects that meet climate change response policies.
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| Incorporate greenhouse gas emissions considerations into the General Plan and environmental review process.
See also Efficient Transportation section.
|
- Include a greenhouse gas reduction plan in the General Plan, or include within the General Plan a requirement for development and adoption of a greenhouse gas reduction plan.
Examples:
- Analyze impact of greenhouse gas emissions from land use and transportation sectors in the EIR prepared in connection with general plan updates.
- Amend local CEQA guidelines to explain how to treat analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, such as including thresholds of significance. [NOTE: the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association has published recommendations at www.capcoa.org.]
- Analyze impacts of development projects on safety, availability and use of alternative transportation in CEQA documents.
|
| Establish planning processes that encourage reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
See also Efficient Transportation section.
|
- Develop and adopt a preferred “climate-friendly” land use and transportation scenario for future development to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) through software tools such as the PLACE3S system developed by the California Energy Commission.
- Incorporate land use and transportation policies in the General Plan, capital improvement program and other planning and spending documents, codes and ordinances to reflect the preferred “climate-friendly” land use and transportation scenario.
- Implement a regional blueprint or other long-range, regional planning process to assess the climate impacts of future growth and develop a preferred regional climate-friendly growth scenario.
- Involve emergency responders early and consistently in development of growth plans.
- Collaborate with other local government agencies to share land use and community design related information, coordinate planning goals and processes, and take advantage of opportunities to combine and leverage scarce resources.
- Review zoning codes and development policies to identify changes that could improve implementation of “climate-friendly” land use and transportation policies.
- Consider public health benefits of designing communities that encourage alternatives to single-occupant-vehicle travel, such as by being more bicycle and pedestrian friendly. (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateWhitepapers)
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| Increase transportation choices.
See also Efficient Transportation section.
|
- Establish land use policies that support multimodal transportation systems and connection of modes to each other.
Examples (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Require sidewalks in all new developments.
- Plan and permit road networks of neighborhood-scaled streets (generally 2 or 4 lanes) with high levels of connectivity and short blocks.
- Zone for concentrated activity centers around transit service.
Examples (www.ca-ilg.org/ClimateLandUseStories):
- Coordinate planning and project approval procedures to increase collaboration between land use and transportation planning staff.
- Cluster freight facilities near ports, airports and rail terminals.
- Coordinate with regional efforts and neighboring jurisdictions to plan for and accommodate alternate modes.
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