Land Use Resources for California Local Officials

Some of the most important policy decisions local officials make relate to how their communities will develop and redevelop. To assist local officials with this task, the Institute for Local Government recently released the latest in its series of “Local Government 101” materials: Understanding the Basics of Land Use and Planning: Guide to Planning Healthy Neighborhoods.

• Understanding the Basics of Land Use and Planning: Guide to Local Planning provides an overview of the planning framework, describes emerging issues in local planning, outlines some of the important legal issues that local officials should consider when they make land use and planning decisions, and includes references to a wide variety of resources that readers can access to learn more about particular topics. Learn more»

Digital copy (for personal use only)»

• Understanding the Basics of Land Use and Planning: Guide to Planning Healthy Neighborhoods identifies the reasons to be concerned about the relationship between health and the built environment, offers options for transforming that concern into a vision for a healthier community, and provides strategies and examples of how to translate that vision into action. Learn more »
  
      Digital copy (for personal use only)»

• Understanding the Basics of Land Use and Planning: Glossary of Land Use and Planning Terms helps local officials and the public understand the terms that are commonly used in the process of making local land use and planning decisions. Learn more»

Digital copy (for personal use only)»

Ordering Information

Both publications, with a separate four-page checklist outlining the “nuts and bolts” of the process of reviewing a typical application for development, are available for $22. Individual copies are available for $10 each. They are also available for download and distribution to others for a modest fee. To purchase, please fill out and either fax or mail order form with payment.

User Feedback

Share your thoughts on these resources with your fellow local officials using the star rating feature below and/or the comment feature in the pod at right.