Our Winter and Spring 2006 issues featured 25 bright ideas on a wide range of topics — ranging from walkable neighborhoods to meeting workforce housing needs, from commissioners “on tour” to how art can transform a street.
On how to breach the wall of separation that too often separates planning and school boards.
Elaine Cogan looks at ways of evaluating your planning board’s effectiveness.
Four planners discuss the role of the professional planner; planning commission-staff relations; what commission chairs can do; pre-meeting workshops; and new commissioner orientation.
How do you build consensus on your planning board? Elaine Cogan offers some suggestions.
A short primer on the skill of active listening.
With NIMBYs legitimate concerns are often mixed with irrational fears. Planner (and planning commissioner) Christine Robbins offers some insights into how to deal with NIMBY situations.
How much thought goes into your planning board’s agenda? A look at ways of improving your meeting agenda.
Why it’s important for planning commissions and governing bodies to work cooperatively. With some suggestions for ways of strengthening this relationship.
Land use mediation can be an effective tool in aligning divergent interests, developing creative solutions, and resolving heated disputes. An overview of how land use mediation works — and when it’s most effective.
Is it appropriate for citizens who have represented “special interest” groups to serve on local planning boards? Greg Dale considers the ethical dimensions of this question.
Newspaper reporter and planning commissioner David Essex explains why it’s important to know what’s news and what isn’t when dealing with the press.
Greg Dale explains why “it’s all relative” in his article on conflict of interest situations involving family members.
