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In order to create a sustainable future for the region, municipalities need more than good plans—they need a well-stocked toolkit of land use controls.  These controls should provide the instruments necessary to promote development in smart growth locations, to discourage growth in areas designated for preservation, to protect private property rights, to streamline permits for proposals consistent with land use plans, and to manage the rate of growth for a specific development or an entire municipality.  

Unfortunately, cities and towns now have few tools to accomplish these goals.  While local authorities retain most responsibility for regulating development, the zoning enabling act and other state laws contain unclear or restrictive provisions that effectively deprive municipalities of authority consistent with their responsibilities.  Efforts to focus growth or protect natural areas are impeded by a complex tangle of exemptions, prohibitions and zoning freezes.  Meanwhile, best practices common in other states are not expressly permitted here or are significantly underutilized.  

With only a limited ability to make and enforce local plans, cities and towns often resort to “end runs” around the law, using restrictions unrelated to good planning to establish control over the development process.  Lengthy and opaque special permit procedures or unduly harsh water requirements can be instituted to prevent the occasional bad development, while in reality they make all growth difficult and costly.  Projects that eventually come to pass may still fail to further local goals.

7)    Modernize the Zoning Enabling Act and Subdivision Control Law

8)    Adopt best practices for permit streamlining

9)    Establish local and regional Transfer of Development Rights programs

10)    Use phased development and rate-of-development controls to manage growth

11)    Formalize development agreements