APA Policy Guides

Question 1

APA Policy Guide on Billboard Controls

http://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/billboards.htm

Answer 1

In 1978 Congress adopted an amendment to the Highway Beautification Act which ties the hands of local governments that want to remove nonconforming billboards along federal highways, making them pay for billboard owners for removal of nonconforming billboards.

The federal government is supposed to meet 75 percent of the cost of billboard removal, but Congress has not appropriated funds for this purpose since 1982. This is a major obstacle to billboard regulation because the removal of nonconforming billboards is essential to an effective billboard control program.

Local governments can and do require the removal of other signs without cash compensation.

APA promotes federal legislation that restores to local governments the authority to require the removal of billboards and other signs through amortization and other means consistent with the law and constitution of the particular state.

Question 2

APA Policy Guide on Climate Change

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/climatechange.htm

Answer 2

Mitigation: minimizing the extent of the future impact created by climate change, primarily by reducing GHG emissions.

Adaptation: The approach for building community resilience by addressing climate-induced drought, flooding, sea-level rise, thawing permafrost, storm surge, and the many other impacts of climate change.

5 strategic points of intervention” to be pursued at the state and local levels with regard to energy and climate challenges:

1. Long-Range Community Visioning and Goal Setting
2. Plan Making
3. Standards, Policies and Incentives
4. Development Work
5. Public Investment

Policy Framework

1. Policy responses to climate change need to be based on the best possible science.
2. Many of the specific impacts of climate change are highly regional and even local in nature. Therefore, climate change policies cannot be based on a one-size-fits-all approach.
3. Adapting to climate change is just as important as mitigating it.
4. Planners will need new communication tools to explain climate change issues and maintain the focus on long-term adaptation and mitigation responses. Citizen participation and engagement is vital to the success of climate change efforts.

Question 3

APA Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning

http://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/food.htm

Answer 3

Reasons why food system is important to planning:
Recognition that food system activities take up a significant amount of urban and regional land
Awareness that planners can play a role to help reduce the rising incidence of hunger on the one hand, and obesity on the other
Understanding that the food system represents an important part of community and regional economies
Awareness that the food Americans eat takes a considerable amount of fossil fuel energy to produce, process, transport, and dispose of
Understanding that farmland in metropolitan areas, and therefore the capacity to produce food for local and regional markets, is being lost at a strong pace
Understanding that pollution of ground and surface water, caused by the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture adversely affects drinking water supplies
Awareness that access to healthy foods in low-income areas is an increasing problem for which urban agriculture can offer an important solution
Recognition that many benefits emerge from stronger community and regional food systems

Two overarching goals are offered for planners:
Help build stronger, sustainable, and more self-reliant community and regional food systems, and,
Suggest ways the industrial food system may interact with communities and regions to enhance benefits such as economic vitality, public health, ecological sustainability, social equity, and cultural diversity.

Seven general policies:
Support comprehensive food planning process at the community and regional levels;
Support strengthening the local and regional economy by promoting local and regional food systems;
Support food systems that improve the health of the region’s residents;
Support food systems that are ecologically sustainable;
Support food systems that are equitable and just;
Support food systems that preserve and sustain diverse traditional food cultures of Native American and other ethnic minority communities;
Support the development of state and federal legislation to facilitate community and regional food planning discussed in general policies #1 through #6.

Question 4

APA Policy Guide on Endangered Species and Habitat Protection
http://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/endanger.htm

Answer 4

Findings

1. The preservation and enhancement of wildlife and its habitat cannot be distinguished from preservation of human habitat and so is a core function of government. As a core function, habitat preservation should be reflected in the entire process of planning, and managing growth and development.
2. Effective habitat conservation requires the participation of all levels of government. State and federal agencies should establish baseline data and protection criteria as well as provide technical assistance to local governments and landowners.
3. Ideally, species should not be allowed to become imperiled to the point of endangerment, but when this does occur, legal mechanisms such as the Endangered Species Act should be in place to provide the protection needed to prevent extinction.
4. Currently, most laws focus on individual species after they have become threatened or endangered. This is usually too late to stop the decline or even extinction of the species.
5. While the existing ESA has as its purpose “to provide a means whereby the ecosystems upon which endangered species and threatened species depend may be conserved…”, there are no mechanisms in the statute to accomplish this.
6. There is tremendous regional variability related to the implementation of the ESA which must be recognized. This is based, in part, on the number of endangered species that are known to occur regionally, their life history requirements (e.g., migratory vs. non–migratory), the amount of available habitat and land in federal ownership, the number of federal actions, and the existence of state laws that extend protection beyond that of the ESA. Also important are regional economic concerns, and variability in implementation of the ESA across the nation.
7. Although Habitat Conservation Plans are helpful in encouraging private—public partnerships, additional incentives are needed to involve private landowners in the protection of the larger amounts of land required for habitat protection.
8. The best science practices for Habitat Conservation Plans will require coordination between technical expert resource agencies and locally knowledgeable municipal governments for planning to satisfy not only stringent ESA requirements but also acceptable community standards which thereby affects HCP implementation.
9. A “No Surprises” rule was applied to Habitat Conservation Plans to provide landowners assurances that once approved, their Plan will not change for the life of the Plan. While this eliminates arbitrary and capricious demands for Plan revisions, it also creates a static Plan that may easily fail.

General Policies

APA supports policies that are designed to plan for the preservation of wildlife habitat in order to minimize the possibility of plant and animal species becoming endangered or extinct.

Valuable wildlife habitat resources should be identified at the local and regional levels at the earliest stages of planning. Habitat protection ideally should be as much an element of a master plan as housing and transportation.

Emphasis should be on protecting ecosystems on a comprehensive basis instead of relying on a narrow, single-species, piecemeal approach.

Question 5

APA Policy Guide on Solid and Hazardous Waste Management

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/wastemgmt.htm

Answer 5

The location of waste management facilities should be part of a comprehensive planning process that includes the opportunity for meaningful public participation and public consensus. The planning process and regulatory process should also address issues of Environmental Justice.

Findings

1. In recent years, financial and environmental costs to dispose of municipal solid waste are beginning to overwhelm North America’s local and state governments. Public attitudes about garbage are also changing in response to new information about costs and practices of solid waste disposal. As our disposal sites are filled, new sites become harder to locate and standards for landfill design require modifications in facilities, resulting in disposal becoming more complex, controversial, and expensive.
2. Environmental concerns deal not only in locating new waste management facilities, but also in posing the question of who is at risk of being exposed to the waste.
3. Although federal and state laws distinguish between “non-hazardous” and hazardous waste, the lines between the two categories are sometimes blurred. Household waste may contain hazardous constituents that pose environmental and health impacts if not properly discarded.
4. Medical and nuclear wastes need to be dealt with in a responsible fashion that does not jeopardize human or ecosystem health.

General Policy

APA supports managing solid wastes (including hazardous and medical wastes) in accordance with the aforementioned hierarchy: reduce, reuse, recycle, waste to energy, incinerate, and landfill.

Question 6

APA Policy Guide on Water

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/water/

Answer 6

APA calls for:

• A planning practice that employs an integrated, systems-oriented, comprehensive approach to water management.
• Innovative land-use planning and urban designs to improve and protect water environments.
• New and improved professional practices to manage water more sustainably and equitably.
• Awareness of the potential for inequity in access to water supply, water pricing that is not sensitive to ability to pay (and yet does not fully account for the full cost of water), and environmental justice issues where discharge of pollution to waterways occurs and where there is insufficient attention to flood mitigation.
sustainable land use patterns coupled with the efficient use of scarce and/or oversubscribed water supplies
• Sustainable land use patterns coupled with the efficient use of scarce and/or oversubscribed water supplies
• water planning to ensure that development and future water needs are consistent with availability and supply
• Water infrastructure designed, built, and maintained, to protect and conserve and reuse water resources to support our long-term economic future and overall well-being.

APA supports:

1. The requirements of the Clean Water Act, including provisions to enforce water quality criteria and standards and the prohibition of discharges into a body of water unless permitted by National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) point source permits or stormwater runoff programs.
2. Strengthened enforcement of permit requirements and water quality standards.
3. Legislation that would require land use and health regulations for source water protection in order to protect the yield and water quality of aquifers and surface water resources, including requirements to jointly manage connected surface and groundwater resources.
4. Legislation that would establish standards and permits for the construction, operation, and abandonment of wells to protect groundwater resources from potential contamination, as well as restrictions on septic tank location and regular septic tank inspection to protect groundwater and surface water quality.
5. Incentives for the use of design alternatives that include safe water reuse for potable and non-potable uses and energy and nutrient recovery that can be used either on a localized or regional scale.
6. The use of innovative land use planning and urban design, during both development and redevelopment, that results in use patterns and development with a low-impact on water resources.
7. Water quality impacts of land use plans should be fully quantified and balanced with point source and stormwater discharge limits.
8. The creation of tools that can be used by planners to facilitate water neutral or “net zero water” development.
9. Rating systems for water management that rewards sustainable water management practices.
10. Financing and integrated capital investment that incentivizes innovative infrastructure and design, and investment in technology.
11. Construction and maintenance of public rights-of-way should utilize best management practices during construction and incorporate the principles of green infrastructure to the extent practicable in order to improve the quality of urban runoff.
12. Funding to rebuild aging infrastructure to maintain a state of good repair and that will avoid the introduction of contaminants into water supplies.
13. Continued funding for Title V of WRRDA, the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA), which establishes a new financing mechanism for water and wastewater infrastructure projects, and which provides low interest rate financing for the construction of water and wastewater infrastructure. In addition, continued federal support for the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs to provide subsidized financing for large dollar-value projects (in addition to WIFIA).
14. Legislation and funding to establish state comprehensive water planning, which incentivizes best practices in conservation, recycling and reuse both on and off site for potable and non-potable uses, sets up an equitable and economically viable regulatory framework to track quantities used/withdrawn and, where appropriate, limits or regulates quantities in areas where the water resource or supply is threatened.
15. Implementation of local regulations that recognize the potential incompatibilities of some land uses with hydraulic fracturing, and the potential for groundwater and surface water contamination from hydraulic fracturing.
16. Future investments in water-related infrastructure that seek to redress imbalances in water resource availability and quality, improve infrastructure in lower income neighborhoods that would otherwise be overlooked by new private investments, address repetitive flooding, and implement pricing strategies that recognize the fundamental right to water for health and safety.
17. Encourage planning for rural water and wastewater infrastructure and connection incentives to minimize the number of septic tanks and potential for contaminated wells.
18. Identify and work to mitigate the negative impacts agricultural uses can have on water resources. (See the APA Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning adopted 2007 for additional policies regarding water issues in agriculture.)
19. Identify and develop innovating pricing strategies for water resources management to ensure equity and fairness while adopting measures to strongly encourage end-user conservation.

Water in the West proposed policies:

Creation of a multi-state body to study the legal and regulatory impediments to changing water laws and allocation procedures that impede the efficient distribution of water, and possible approaches to enacting changes to those laws and regulations.

Performance of watershed based hydro-geologic studies and creation of long range water management plans by state and/or regional authorities, as appropriate, to determine the most efficient allocation of scarce resources in advance of more serious water crises in the future.

Stormwater Objectives:

• mimic natural runoff patterns to the maximum degree possible.
• Achieve more natural stormwater control through the integration, implementation and maintenance of Low Impact Development and Green Infrastructure approaches
• Stormwater drainage systems, which for the most part are largely unfunded due to the lack of service fee structures, need to be re-conceived as a formalized service provided to communities.

Stormwater Proposed Policies:

1. Development of specific content for managing stormwater as part of APA’s Sustaining Places comprehensive plan standards.
2. Federal and state Clean Water Act implementing regulations that recognize the importance of, and preferentially favor, environmentally sustainable stormwater management designs for stormwater systems in achieving water quality goals for streams, rivers, and oceans.
3. The development and application of innovative land use planning and urban design that considers the potential impact from overland flow, as well as point source and stormwater discharges, so that the result is net low-impact development from a stormwater management perspective.
4. Watershed-wide plans that cross jurisdictional lines, and interagency cooperation in data sharing at all levels of the private and public sectors.
5. Strengthen mechanisms to encourage upstream land use authorities to consult with downstream communities within a watershed.
6. Establishment of a national catalogue of green infrastructure best practices and successful case studies of mitigation and adaptation.
7. Green infrastructure and planning for multiple objectives as a cost-effective method for mitigating the effects of natural hazards while also supporting other benefits to the community.
8. A demonstrated, integrated, systems-oriented approach to stormwater management using water quality improvement features, such as bioswales, natural or rehabilitated catchment areas, unlined stormwater detention ponds, and other low impact and green infrastructure approaches that improve water quality and promote livability.
9. Increased federal and state research into green infrastructure techniques and natural systems engineering and restoration as appropriate to specific regions and the hazards they face.
10. Development of performance standards for stormwater management during development review that shift priorities from conventional fast-conveyance designs to more environmentally sustainable low impact designs.
11. Creation and implementation of regulatory incentives, such as density bonuses, for projects that will significantly improve pre-existing conditions for stormwater management both on-site and/or for adjacent uses.
12. Identification and creation of new funding to rebuild oft-underfunded stormwater drainage systems, and to provide retrofit and modification of such systems to achieve more natural, slow-conveyance, high storage designs.
13. New federal and state legislation, or strengthened existing regulations, that specifically provide for the creation of Stormwater Utilities that follow prescribed standards of practice and operation, to allow the sustainable and effective operation and management of stormwater drainage systems.
14. Development by local communities of dedicated revenue streams designed specifically for stormwater management and infrastructure improvements.
15. New training programs that allow the development of a workforce specifically trained and equipped for construction and maintenance of low impact and green infrastructure designs, which require more regular maintenance than highly engineered pipe systems due to their natural environmental features.

Flooding Objectives:

• Current information on the location and level of risk within communities,
• Land use regulations that minimize new development within areas subject to flooding,
• Elimination of incentives that encourage land development (or redevelopment) within flood hazard areas,
• New projects to protect existing residents from flooding, with the goal that natural solutions are generally preferable to structural controls, and
• Revised flood insurance premiums to more closely reflect the true, full actuarial cost phased in over time and with programs to assist policyholders in an affected area.

Flooding Proposed Policies:

1. Frequent updates to small area flood maps.
2. Development of small area rainfall and water use data and predictive models that can be used by local governments and water utilities.
3. For communities subject to coastal flooding, plans should include the anticipated potential change in sea level as a factor for future risk.
4. Planning for increases in water elevation due to sea level rise, including the use of tools such as conservation easements, zoning, and infrastructure location decisions is strongly encouraged.
5. Establishment of federal, state, and local land-use planning decision frameworks that avoid locating development, critical infrastructure and vulnerable populations, in areas subject to risks.
6. Development and adoption of building codes that provide greater resiliency to water hazards as a result of sea level rise.
7. Federal, state, and local tax incentives to utilize environmentally sensitive building and development techniques.
8. Federal, state, and local tax credits for conservation easement donations based on the ecological values protected and preserved through the easement and the ability to reduce the severity of the potential flood hazard.
9. Green infrastructure approaches to storm and flood management; use of traditional engineered structural solutions only when necessary to protect life and property.
10. Use of redundant, smaller-scale infrastructure over larger-scale infrastructure to promote the resilience of physical networks (such as roadways and waterways).
11. Research to address the legal, financial and ethical issues of regulatory strategic retreat away from areas of high flood hazard to more resilient locations.
12. Provide substantive guidance to enable those communities that have experienced flood impacts to adjust to new planning and regulatory programs.
13. Explore new and more adequate funding for structures with high risk of flooding.
14. Institute measures to mitigate flood impacts that could include capital investment in flood control structures in all communities, especially those dealing with existing issues. In determining allocation of resources, conduct cost/benefit assessments that include an evaluation of ecosystem impacts.

Water Resources Objectives:

• No overall net loss of the nation’s remaining wetland and aquatic ecosystem resource base;
• Restoration of lost and damaged wetland and aquatic ecosystem resources, as defined by function, acreage, volume, location, type, and scarcity.
• Consideration of the comprehensive environmental and ecological impacts of land use development and modification to avoid impacts to the reliable yield, quantity, and quality of water.

Water Resources Proposed Policies:

1. Legislation and other actions to enhance, restore and create wetlands and aquatic ecosystem resources along waterways where feasible, in order to increase the quality and quantity of the nation’s aquatic resource base.
2. Use of a watershed approach at the local or regional scale to determine wetland and other aquatic resource protection and mitigation requirements.
3. Development of watershed information related to climate, hydrology, historic wetland distribution, habitat for fish and wildlife, cultural, residential, commercial and recreational importance, current landownership, and existing environmental stressors.
4. Development of watershed-wide management and mitigation regulations for wetland and other aquatic resource protections including exurban upland nonpoint (stormwater) impacts on urban water systems.
5. A collaborative planning approach to sustainable water resource management to provide the broad multi-disciplinary perspective needed to achieve wetland and other aquatic resource planning goals as part of comprehensive regional planning activities. As part of the collaborative approach landowners rights must be acknowledged as plans are developed to manage and restore wetland and other aquatic resource areas.
6. Strengthen and encourage the use of available tools and mechanisms to preserve and restore riparian corridors for water quality, stormwater management, and aesthetic benefits.
7. Adoption of local zoning and/or development performance standards for wetlands and other aquatic resources and their adjacent lands to achieve comprehensive floral and faunal aquatic resource protections that, in many cases, may obviate the need for federal or state permits.
8. Research and demonstration projects in the use of created wetlands and other aquatic resources as “natural capital” solutions for attenuating stormwater runoff water quality problems and climate change issues resulting from greenhouse gas emissions.
9. Promote research and best practices to prevent and mitigate the impacts of invasive species on water quality, habitats, and recreation, addressing impacts on tourism, sport fishing, etc.

Integrated Water Resource Management Objectives
• Water should be approached as a system comprised of surface water, groundwater, wetlands, and storm water, to be used, conveyed, treated, redistributed, and discharged in a manner that maximizes the reuse and life of the resource consistent with a One Water approach.
• Partnerships should be developed between planners, developers, engineers, local governments, regional and state agencies, water providers/utilities, water and storm water management agencies, and others such as recreation interests and park districts, to foster collaborative relationships that lead to holistic planning and integrated water resource management.
• Develop policies to link land use decisions and water planning that are based on recognition of the reliable yield and vulnerability of water, and also considers the full life-cycle of water, in order to achieve maximum beneficial use of this resource.

Integrated Water Resource Management Proposed Policies:

1. The One Water concept for integrated water resource management, which encourages planning for water by considering all aspects of water use, wastewater disposal, runoff management, surface and groundwater resources, and the natural environment in a way that minimizes the impact on the environment and maximizes the contribution to social and economic vitality.
2. Codify the concept of “One Water” and integrated water resource management in partnership with the water service industry in order to have a universal, working definition for use in communications among different professions and industries, including legislative initiatives that advance One Water strategies that integrate achievement of water supply, wastewater management, and stormwater management goals.
3. Education and training opportunities for the public, elected officials, practitioners, and stakeholders on the complexities and interconnectedness of water management topics, to create expanded awareness and understanding of water resource management challenges, including the creation of Guidelines that encourage planning agencies and water service utilities to work together in developing and communicating unified water policy messages to the general public about regional or local water resource concerns.
4. Institutionalization of working relationships between planners and utility leaders in the community to plan how to best maximize more sustainable water and wastewater infrastructure implementation and improvements.
5. Support policies that encourage local water service utilities to become energy neutral and to reuse water for both safe potable and non-potable uses.
6. Focused professional development training on the full spectrum of water planning and the interdependencies of local, regional, and national issues and perspectives, recognizing the intersection of traditional planning concerns and water, energy, and climate issues.
7. Creation and strengthening of collaborative partnerships by identifying opportunities to integrate water and planning wherever possible to leverage expertise by connecting with larger associations and foundations that are dedicated to water issues in the urban environment, such as the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Research Foundation (WRF), Water Environment Federation (WEF), Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF), American Institute of Architects (AIA), American Water Resources Association (AWRA), and many others that are too numerous to list in this policy guide.
8. Incorporation of water planning into the comprehensive planning process with full recognition of the various elements of water planning including source and availability, community wide water consumption patterns, drainage systems, conservation strategies, the effect of development patterns on water usage and wastewater generation, ecosystem biodiversity, and implementation strategies.
9. Development of a manual of model ordinances and local legislative mechanisms that promote adoption of integrated urban water management planning, targeted toward urban planners. This includes building code updates, use of green space as an approach to managing stormwater, water-neutral offset requirements, etc.
10. Encourage a standardized approach consistent with public health goals and resource efficiency to incentivize the use and reuse of grey water.
11. Promote research and demonstration projects concerning the effective treatment of blackwater for onsite irrigation, toilet flushing, laundry, and other non-potable uses.
12. Legislation and funding to establish state comprehensive water planning and local ordinance improvements that would include provisions for watershed protection and evaluation of potential surface and ground water impacts.
13. Increased public interest and participation in determining ways the public can help communities transition to more integrated water management mechanisms.
14. Changes in water utility rate structure that recognize the true full cost of water production, distribution, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management, and also recognize the economic impact of agriculture and equity issues associated with widening income disparity.

APA Actions:

1. Work to advance sustainable water planning and management practices by collaborating and partnering with federal agencies and programs working on similar initiatives.
2. Work with state and local governments and tribal governments to more efficiently address current and future water issues (drought, flooding, vulnerable ecosystems etc.) by helping to advance regulations and legislation supporting an integrated approach to water management. Standardizing approaches across regions as well as enforcing ordinances and guidelines promoting integration are important steps. Furthermore, given the silos constructed throughout the water industry, lack of data or even consistent data is a challenge.
3. Identify and partner with other organizations working on water issues toward creation of a more integrated water management system. These interdisciplinary partnerships will help initiate steps to support legislative and regulatory changes that can ultimately support a more systematic approach. It is critical that these partnerships be active and long lasting. Partnerships should be inclusive and promote multiple on-going dialogues that allow water and planning professionals to learn from each other, leverage each other’s work and undertake collaborative research opportunities together. Only with such robust engagements can innovative methods be developed and implemented in an integrated fashion.
4. Work to enhance the technical skills of planners as they relate to the more scientific components of water issues. Developing this technical skill set will elevate the role of planners in a more integrated water system, by not only enabling planners to facilitate discussions, but also to serve as water planning experts. It is important to provide planners with a more technical skill set to address water issues so they have the confidence to continue their participation in water management dialogues. This type of education extends not only to planners but to elected officials and high level executives as well, to learn how their disciplines and expertise fit together, effectively breaking down silos.

Question 7

APA Policy Guide on Wetlands

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/wetlands.htm

Answer 7

Two main groups: coastal or tidal wetlands and inland or nontidal wetlands.

Wetlands are subdivided into five primary systems: marine, estuarine, riverine, lacustrine (lakes and ponds) and palustrine (swamps and marshes).

As a result of Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. Army Corps of Engineers (SCOTUS 2001), isolated wetlands are not afforded protection under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act, based solely on the Migratory Bird Rule.

The American Planning Association and its Chapters support legislation and other actions to achieve the goal of no overall net loss of the nation’s remaining wetland’s resource base, as defined by acreage, volume, location, type, and function. In order to achieve the no net loss goal, APA and its Chapters support legislation and other actions to enhance, restore and create wetlands where feasible, in order to increase the quality and quantity of the nation’s wetland resource base in conjunction with other natural resource protection policies. However, replacement of existing wetlands should be considered only after avoidance and minimization and only where the wetland function in-kind can be replaced within the same sub-watershed.

Reasons to support general policy:

To add APA support to achieving a clearly defined goal for wetland preservation;
To indicate APA recognition of the importance of wetlands;
To promote the inclusion of wetlands in the overall planning, which must recognize the hierarchy of protection techniques: avoidance and minimization of wetland impacts are considered before mitigation;
Large, public sector capital projects often result in significant adverse impacts to wetlands. A no net loss policy and adherence to avoid, minimize, compensate approach when planning such projects will lead to greater protection of the Nation’s wetlands.

Question 8

APA Policy Guide on Factory Built Housing

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/factoryhousing.htm

Answer 8

Definitions in zoning ordinances should be clear. A manufactured house is a house built in conformity with the provisions of the federal HUD Code. Mobile homes are those built prior to the adoption of the HUD Code. Definition confusion is a barrier to the placement of manufactured homes.

Implementation of the Manufactured Home Improvement Act of 2000 (PL 106-569) enacted in December 2000 should facilitate greater public acceptance and more opportunities for the placement of manufactured housing. Formed a committee that recommends to the HUD Secretary the adoption, revision, and interpretation of the federal manufacturing and safety standards, procedures, enforcement, and scope and conduct of monitoring.

Factory built housing comprised more than one-third of total new residential units in 1995. As indicated in the table below, manufactured homes dominated the factory built housing segment, growing from 68 percent in 1995 to 73 percent in 1999.

GENERAL POLICY POSITION — APA National and Chapters support the use of manufactured homes where residential uses are permitted consistent with locally adopted plans, ordinances, and design requirements and the HUD Code, where locally adopted plans, ordinances, and design requirements are consistent with this policy guide.

Reasons to Support General Policy Position:

The manufactured home is a major source of housing for young families, first time homebuyers, older adults, and others with limited income. In 1999 one-third of all new single-family homes sold were factory built. Exclusion of this housing source acts to exclude these and other groups and conflicts with APAs social equity policies.

HUD has made expanded use of manufactured housing for affordable homeownership a key element of its National Home Ownership Strategy. APA is one of a number of national associations that make up HUDs National Partners in Homeownership and, along with other members of the partnership, is helping to formulate and carry out this strategy.

Support for manufactured homes as a form of lower cost housing is consistent with APAs existing housing and social equity policies, which promote decent housing affordable to low- and moderate-income households in suitable living environments.

Question 9

APA Policy Guide on Housing

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/housing.htm

Answer 9

Some of the questions planners should be seeking answers to include: Is there sufficient developable land to meet residential demand in the community? Are housing prices and rents escalating and pricing people out of the for-sale and rental markets? Is affordable rental housing being lost due to age and neglect, or to expiring government subsidies and contracts, or to more attractive higher market rates or conversion to other uses? Which properties are at risk of loss from the affordable housing stock? Is there adequate emergency or transitional housing for the homeless? Is the local housing market being impacted by the quality of neighborhood public schools? Is new housing accessible to persons with disabilities or adaptable so that persons may age in place? Are key community workers such as teachers and police officers able to live in the communities they serve? Are new immigrants or aging baby boomers or the changing composition of households creating a demand for the design of new housing types?

FINDINGS

HOUSING STOCK

According to the 2004 American Community Survey, the nation contains 122.7 million units for 109.9 million households.

The stock has been growing despite a recession elsewhere in the economy and includes 67 percent single unit structures, 26 percent multi-unit structures, and 7 percent mobile homes.

An average of 1.9 million units has been built each year from 2000 through 2004. Units are becoming larger, and households are becoming smaller over time. The average household size is now 2.6.

More than one-half of the nation’s housing stock was built after 1970.

HOUSEHOLD TENURE AND COMPOSITION

There are 73.8 million households who are owners and 36.1 million who are renters. About 29 percent reside in central cities, 49 percent in suburbs, and 22 percent in non-metro areas.

Fifty percent of the households are married couple families while 17 percent are other family households. Single person households represent 27 percent of the total households. The number of unmarried partners rose 72 percent between 1990 and 2000.

The number of elderly households is growing and is now 22 million according to the 2000 Census. The Census also reports that the number of family households with a disabled member is over 16 million.

HOUSING CONDITIONS

Overcrowding is a problem for only a small percentage of the population (1-3 percent).

6 percent report severe or moderate problems with the structure of their home.

HOUSING COSTS AND HOUSEHOLD INCOMES

The affordability of housing remains the biggest housing challenge confronting the country.

31 percent of households are income burdened (pay 50 percent or more on housing).

Housing and Transportation Affordability Index developed by the Brookings Institution, examine a broader measure of housing affordability by looking at housing cost burden in combination with the transportation costs associated with the location of the housing. Transportation is the second largest expenditure after housing and can range from 10 to 25 percent of household expenditures.

HOMELESSNESS

On any given night 800,000 people will be homeless.

There are many homeless subpopulations, from the chronically homeless to the transitional homeless.

HOUSING/SCHOOL LINKAGES

Public schools in many cities have become re-segregated with student populations that are more than 95 percent non-white.

School policy is housing policy and many housing and community redevelopment efforts and smart growth efforts are creating successful housing/school connections.

Many communities, particularly in high growth areas, have created countywide school districts and magnet school programs in order to break the pattern of have and have not schools.

HOPE VI is a plan by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is meant to revitalize the worst public housing projects in the United States into mixed-income developments.

Question 10

APA Policy Guide on the Provision of Child Care

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/childcare.htm

Answer 10

Policy Positions

1. APA advocates the inclusion of child care policies as part of local planning policies.
2. APA supports local or state legislation which provides for small child care homes as permitted land uses in all zoning districts, without the standard home occupation restrictions, but with reasonable compatibility standards; and further supports state preemption of local legislation which does not permit this type of child care home.
3. APA encourages communities to consider amending local zoning ordinances to remove obstacles to the provision of regulated group and family child care in all zoning districts, in locations that are appropriate and safe for children.
4. APA encourages communities to negotiate with developers and to offer incentives to provide space for child care in all types of projects, residential, office, mixed use, and commercial, including new construction and reuse.
5. APA supports legislation at the federal, state and local levels providing for child care needs assessment and planning to be performed at the state and local level.
6. APA supports local legislation (zoning ordinances) which provide for child care in locations convenient to neighborhoods and in public facilities such as schools, recreation and social service centers, and subsidized housing projects. Procedures to locate child care facilities should not be overly burdensome and should be related to size and land use impacts of the facility.
7. APA supports national and state legislation which moves toward the goal of providing adequate funding for safe, convenient and affordable child care opportunities for all children.

Question 11

APA Policy Guide on Security

https://www.planning.org/policy/guides/adopted/security.htm

Answer 11

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is defined as “a theory of crime prevention that places a major emphasis on the design of the physical environment as the primary focus for addressing issues of public safety. CPTED relies on three primary principles: 1) natural access control, 2) natural surveillance, and 3) territoriality. Through the use of these principles, the physical environment can be modified or designed to eliminate the opportunities for a crime to be committed.”

SafeScape is described as an approach to designing communities that has the primary focus on creating a sense of community. In addition to changing the physical environment, the approach also involves changing how people think of and interact with the physical environment, thereby enabling a sense of community through the design process as well as maintaining and sustaining livability.

Both CPTED and SafeScape are within the framework of New Urbanism design principles that are intended to facilitate integrated and fully functioning communities