Goals

Tools

Promote mixed land uses

• Adopt codes like the traditional neighborhood ordinance that can parallel existing codes.Use flexible zoning tools, such as overlay zones or planned unit developments.

Take advantage of compact building design

• Use public meetings to educate community members about the relationship among transportation, density and compact building options.
• Use density bonuses.
• Ensure a sense of privacy and safety through design of homes and yards.

Create a range of housing opportunities and choices

• Revise zoning and building codes to permit a wider variety of housing types.
• Plan and zone for affordable and manufactured housing developments in rural areas.

Create walkable communities

• Adopt design standards for streets that ensure safety and mobility for pedestrian and non-motorized modes of transport.
• Identify economic opportunities that stimulate pedestrian activity.
• Connect walkways, parking lots, greenways, and developments.

Foster distinctive, attractive communities with a strong sense of place

• Preserve natural features and plant communities in addition to planting new trees throughout communities, and preserving existing trees during new construction.
• Preserve scenic vistas through the appropriate location of telecommunication towers, and improve control of billboards/signage.
• Preserve historic buildings or structures that are valued by the community.
• Encourage outdoor art, such as sculptures, murals and other examples of creative expression.

Preserve open space, farmland, natural beauty, and critical environmental areas

• Use purchase of development rights (PDRs) and other market mechanisms to conserve environmental functions of private lands.
• Coordinate with county state and federal planning on land conservation.
• Expand use of innovative financing tools to facilitate open space acquisition and preservation, such as a PDR program.
• Include a green infrastructure¹ plan into your comprehensive plan.
• Create a network of trails and environmental corridors/greenways.
• Design and implement zoning tools that preserve open space (for example, conservation subdivisions.
• Partner with nongovernmental organizations, such as land trusts, to acquire and protect land.
• Maintain agriculture land and ensure agricultural activities are a viable option for community members.

Strengthen and direct development towards existing communities or development

• Institute regional tax base sharing to limit intergovernmental competition and to support schools and infrastructure throughout the region.
• Create incentives for contiguous development and/or limitations on scattered development.
• Institute regional governmental planning for infrastructure, municipal services, and economic development.

Provide a variety of transportation choices

• Finance and provide incentives for multi-modal transportation (biking, walking, driving, snowmobiling, x-country skiing, etc.) systems that include supportive land use and development

Make development decisions predictable, fair, and cost effective

• Display zoning regulations and design goals in pictorial fashion to better illustrate development goals.
• Conduct impact analyses and/or cost of community service studies on proposed developments.
• Provide continuing education for local land use decision makers related to their roles and responsibilities.
• Strive for �one stop shopping� for development-related permits.

Encourage community and stakeholder collaboration in development decisions