Land Use Planning and Policy Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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The earth’s landscape performs a multitude of functions, from providing the natural resources for human activities to recycling carbon dioxide to produce oxygen. It is the home of city-dwellers and desert nomads, along with aquatic, terrestrial, and avian species. Activities performed on the landscape range from nonrenewable extractive industries to landscape modifications by natural events such as volcanic eruptions. No matter what the activity, function, or purpose, the human population manages the landscape according to their environmental, cultural, and political philosophy.

Land Ownership and Community

Land is owned either by the private or government sector. Attached to land ownership are basic responsibilities and rights to the use and maintenance of the property. The private landowner, however, is part of a local government that provides goods and services to the property. The jurisdictional control is the power of the local government to manage and regulate private activities that impact on the general public’s “health, safety, and welfare.” Land use planning provides a balance between preserving the rights of the individual property owner and meeting the needs of the community. The community can represent the local population or the nation.

Currently in the United States, there are no national land use policies even though different federal agencies manage large tracts of land. Overall, federal land encompasses approximately 1.29 million square miles (3.34 million square kilometers) or 34 percent of the total land area of the United States (3.79 million square miles). Each federal agency adheres to management policies that have been established by law. In addition, national laws have specific standards for establishing air and water quality, solid waste disposal, noise pollution, and transportation that directly or indirectly regulate land use activities. Thus, federal agencies manage lands and federal laws regulate land activities, but individual states have the responsibility of land use policy through their police powers.

States’ police power provides the ability to establish laws and ordinances to maintain civil order and provide for the public health, safety, and general welfare of their citizens. Through enabling legislation, the states have established the procedures and methods for land planning and regulation. They have also laid the foundations for local level planning by identifying specific statewide goals or allowing the individual local entities to construct their own land use goals. In addition, the state may impose specific health and environmental standards and guidelines that the local government must follow. Thus, the local government possesses the ability to manage land use within the powers and methods provided by the state government.

Several states have identified specific areas or types of land as “critical” and have imposed specific land management techniques to ensure their protection. These areas may be vulnerable to human impacts, and need to be preserved, enhanced, or protected. The area or land type may possess valuable natural resources or have historic, cultural, or scenic value. Land types-e.g., prime agricultural land, forested areas, or wildlife habitats-can be granted special protection to preserve their production capabilities or their contribution to the ecosystem.

States may use financial or investment entitlements to support or locate specific land use. Forty states provide preferential property tax treatment to farmland as a means to sustain this activity. States regularly invest in new or expanded infrastructure, facilities, or services to promote development. The placement of a new state prison, centers of higher learning, or hospitals encourage development to support new employment opportunities, complementary services, and economic diversity.

State-enabling legislation generally provides the local government with the authority to regulate the density, type, location, and height of buildings and structures. The local authority can divide their jurisdiction into districts and regulate and restrict building construction, use, alteration, and repairs. In addition, local land use plans are employed to: lessen congestion, create safe environments, reduce overcrowding, provide adequate light and air, and facilitate adequate infrastructure. All of this is done by local government to provide for public health, safety, and general welfare.

Principles

Land use policy is based on the interactions between the environment, society, and the political/ economic structure. The framework upon which land use planning is built depends on the sustainability of a system that recognizes the importance of meeting the complex needs of human society while maintaining the integrity of natural systems that support all life.

Land use planning goals and decisions are best determined at the local level with community knowledge of the environment, economy, and society. There are five basic principles that should be integral to land use decisions. These principles are: (1) create a land use system that is sustainable for future generations, (2) analyze local impacts in a regional context, (3) provide for social equity, (4) produce an economic system that produces community well-being, and (5) preserve cultural/historical and environmentally-sensitive areas.

There are four dimensions to the land that need to be considered in land use planning: (1) land as a functional space, the overall parcel dimensions and location, the environmental characteristics, the building(s) and structural/infrastructure dimensions and capacities, and use characteristics; (2) land as an activity center, the interactions that take place on the site, human interactions or ecosystem dynamics; (3) land as a commodity, the value of the land for economic exchange or value to society; and, (4)

land as an image or aesthetic resource, its psychological value to the community. The land use is the expression of the particular dimension the citizens want to emphasize.

Land Classification

The land classification system used to describe the characteristics of the land depends on the purpose of the classification. Land use refers to the activities taking place on that parcel of land, but a parcel of land can have multiple uses. For instance, land in the national forest can be used for: hiking, camping, bird watching, as protection of our nation’s woodlands, a source for timber harvesting, protection of our watersheds, an area for mining, and as a scenic landscape. Thus, the purpose for the classification system will depend on: (1) the legislative responsibilities of the government entity; (2) the type of impact assessment (environmental, social, economic, transportation, or technological); and (3) the interaction between land use elements (residential and commercial, urban and environmental).

Planning Process

In developing a land use plan, identification of community values is an essential first step. These values assist in the articulation of the idea of “sense of place,” what is important to the local community. The next step in the process is to produce the overall land use goals and objectives. In order to obtain the goals and objectives, the third step is to identify different policy strategies and evaluate their feasibility. The fourth step is to select and implement the policies that will attain the community’s goals. The final step is the establishment of a system to monitor and evaluate the policies to ensure they produce the desired outcome. Decisionmakers integrate citizen input into the process so that it is assured to be a community-based land use plan.

Policy Options

Land use policies generally align to one of six approaches. The most often cited approach relates to regulation – most notably zoning – but this also includes subdivision ordinances and different types of codes (buildings, architecture, landscaping, etc.). Incentives are another set of policy approaches to provide options for land owners and developers. The incentive policies do not punish or restrict land uses but give beneficial options based on set action criteria. The third approach is land acquisition, the purchase or entitlement of land (conservation easements) by the local authority and placing the land in a specific use, e.g., recreation, land conservation, or preservation. Another policy approach is to use the placement of capital infrastructure to direct land use into specific areas or dimensions. Thus, the local community and not market pressure dictate the position of roads and utilities. Fifth, financial policies can serve two purposes – a method of collecting needed revenues to acquire land or build infrastructure or as a means to make development fiscally responsible for its impacts. Finally, the least utilized policy is educating the community about the benefits and impacts of land use decisions to this generation and future generations.

Bibliography:

V.H. Dale and R.A. Haeuber, ,Applying Ecological Principles to Land Management (Springer-Verlag, 2001);
L. Diamond and P.F. Noonan, Land Use in America (Island Press, 1996);
J. Kaiser, D.R. Godschalk, and F.S. Chapin, Urban Land Use Planning (University of Illinois Press, 1995);
H. Platt, Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy (Island Press, 2004);
Silberstein and C. Maser, Land Use Planning for Sustainable Development (Lewis Publishers, 2000).