Building Local Planning Capacity
Along the I-69 corridor, the use and implementation of planning tools and techniques varies greatly among communities. While some communities have embraced many planning tools, others have not for various reasons. Accordingly, the capacities of the communities to manage and subsequently administer plans formulated in the I-69 Community Planning Program may vary as well.
For communities to choose the most appropriate tool(s), the community’s planning resources and capacity should be analyzed. This discussion of local planning capacity focuses on the technical, managerial, financial and political ability of a local government to carry out a project or task. It is recognized that many other influences can impact or determine a community’s planning capacity. All local influences and considerations should be analyzed before determining future planning endeavors.
The purpose of discussing planning capacity is to identify the conditions under which individual tools are ideally used. For example, a tool which requires an extensive amount of staff to administer would not be the most appropriate tool for a community with few or no planning staff to implement.
Throughout this toolbox, tools are listed by their recommended level of planning capacity. This is a suggestion when communities should utilize each tool. The intention of organizing tools by recommended level of planning capacity is not to limit or restrict any community from using or implementing a desired tool; rather, its purpose is to serve as a guide to help communities select the tool that will be most effective for the topic(s) they are trying to address. However, any community can use any tool described in this toolbox. A community may be able to implement a tool above their capacity if resources are dedicated to that particular tool or if the community uses a simplified version of the tool.
For example, after assessing a community’s planning capacity, the local decision makers determine their community falls within the “level 2” planning capacity. The tool they choose from any of the categories should be within level 1 or level 2. Because local decision makers assessed the community’s planning capacity as a level 2, it does not restrict or preclude them from implementing a level 3 or level 4 tool. A community can always choose to implement a tool beyond their self assessed capacity.
If a tool is beyond a community’s planning capacity, capacity can be acquired through external resources, such as universities, regional planning organization, metropolitan planning organizations, other resource organizations and consultants. Many communities that have a higher planning capacity use outsourced services to assist them in completing various projects. When capacity is acquired in this manner, a key consideration in the plan should be the long-term administrative requirements for successful implementation. Additionally, each community should analyze the different approaches to increasing local planning capacity. If external resources are used, a plan should be developed to gradually increase their own capacity in various ways, such as analyzing or expanding the structural capacity of the planning staff.
In order to efficiently use the I-69 Community Planning Toolbox, a community should understand the level of their planning resources and capacity.
It is suggested that each community complete the following checklist to determine its current planning capacity.
