ABSTRACT
The views held by the public and legislative decision makers about the roles of governments will influence your states approach to statutory reform, which will in turn determine which of the statutory alternatives you are likely to prefer. There is a continuum of four alternative approaches in existing statutory systems:
Planning is voluntary only.
Planning is encouraged, with incentives.
Planning is mandated.
A state-regional-local planning system is mandatory.
By presenting alternatives, the Legislative Guidebook helps you to determine and apply appropriate solutions to problems of growth and change. Planning statute reform sometimes occurs incrementally, sequentially, and in a progression from voluntary approaches to incentives to stronger mandates. The American Planning Association advocates planning as a requirement to underpin land-use regulation and public investment, but recognizes that states will take different approaches and will progress toward stronger statutes as circumstances dictate.