GEOG 4823, Urban & Regional Planning
Fall 2005
Class Project
Assigned November 1, 2005


Overview

The Oklahoma statutes regarding planning are outdated.  The purpose of this project is to evaluate the existing Oklahoma planning legislation and to propose ways in which to modernize the planning enabling legislation.  The project will be comprised of five major components:
  1. Placing the existing planning legislation in the historical context of the two model enabling acts of the 1920s.
  2. Evaluatiing the existing legislation
  3. Examining the model statutes for planning in the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook.
  4. Studying legislation from selected states for best practices (focusing on two or three best practices in each state).
  5. Proposing general content for modern planning statutes in Oklahoma.

Process (Division of Responsibilities)

All class members must:

A.  Become thoroughly familiar with the existing state statutes in Oklahoma regarding planning by reading Title 11, Sections 36-47, with particular attention to sections 43-47 of the Oklahoma Statutes.   Read "Oklahoma" (pages 103-105 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--class handout) as a quick overview to set the context for your more detailed reading of the statutes. These statutes can be found in:
Oklahoma Statutes, 2001
Oklahoma Statutes Annotated, 2005
Oklahoma Public Legal Research System <http://oklegal.onenet.net>
Rich Text Format at <http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/osStatuesTitle.html>
The i: drive in the folder \ziehr\URPlanning\OK-Statutes\  (as Word documents)

B.  Become familiar with the overall nature and purpose of the Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook: Model Statutes for Planning and the Management of Change (Stuart Meck, Editor; American Planning Association, 2002) by reading its Introduction, page xli-xlix, and Chapter 2 (Purposes and Grant of Power), pages 2-1 through 2-14.
The Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook is available on reserve in the NSU library in two volumes (Volume 1: Introduction through Chapter 7 and Volume 2: Chapters 8-15), in Dr. Ziehr's office by chapter, and on the i: drive in the folder \ziehr\URPlanning\ GrowingSmart-CD (files by chapter in PDF format).

Individual class members will concentrate on one focus area.  As the student studies the focus area, she/he should be considering the issues for potential application in an Oklahoma context.  The focus areas are:
  1. The historical context of the current Oklahoma planning statutes by comparing them to the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act  (U.S. Department of Commerce, Revised Edition, 1926) and Standard City Planning Enabling Act (U.S. Department of Commerce, 1928)--available from Dr. Ziehr.
  2. State Planning legislation (Chapter 4 in Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook).
  3. Local Planning legislation, including planning commissions and comprehensive planning (Chapter 7 in Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook).  [2 students]
  4. Local Land Development Regulations, including zoning and subdivision regulations (Chapter 8 in Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook).  [2 students]
  5. Special and Environmental Land Development Regulations and Land-Use Incentives, including natural hazard areas, transportation, and historic preservation (Chapters 9 & 12 in Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook).
  6. Administration and Judicial Review of Land-Use Decisions, including permit review, conditional uses, variances, and appeals (Chapter 10 in Growing Smart Legislative Guidebook).
  7. Case study of Maryland for best practices (Pages 25-36 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 68-70 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other Maryland source).
  8. Case study of New Jersey for best practices (Pages 37-46 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 90-91 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other New Jersey source).
  9. Case study of Oregon for best practices (Pages 47-58 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 106-107 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other Oregon source).
  10. Case study of Rhode Island for best practices (Pages 59-68 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 111-113 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other Rhode Island source).
  11. Case study of Tennessee for best practices (Pages 69-76 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 118-119 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other Tennessee source).
  12. Case study of Washington for best practices (Pages 77-84 in Planning Communities for the 21st Century, American Planning Association, 1999; pages 130-131 in Planning for Smart Growth: 2002 State of States, American Planning Association, 2002--both available from Dr. Ziehr and at least one other Washington source).

Resulting Products
  1. Each student will submit a written summary of his/her findings in a three to five-page, double-spaced report, with an additional page of source citations (submitted as a Word, WordPerfect, or Rich Text Format document as an attachement to an e-mail) -- due by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 29.  The filename should make it clear what area is covered in the report and include your last name; for example, Chapter 10-Ziehr, or Washington-Ziehr.
  2. Each student will participate in class discussions on November 29 and December 1 to synthesize recommendations for Oklahoma from all of the materials that have been studied by the class.
  3. Each student will submit a written proposal (three to five pages, double-spaced) of general content for modern planning statutes in Oklahoma in one focus area (area assigned by Dr. Ziehr on December 9--be listening carefully to the discussion about all the areas because you won't know which one you'll be assigned).  This proposal will be based on the written summaries and the in-class discussions.  The written proposal must be submitted as a Word, WordPerfect, or Rich Text Format document as an attachement to an e-mail by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13.

Please note that it has been necessary to adjust the due dates from those mentioned in the syllabus, but you still have as much or more time to complete the class project as was originally planned.