Publications & Examples
Access various publications and example documents, organized alphabetically by category, to assist you with your land use planning needs and topics.
Example Document:
The Capital Improvements Plan, plus Impact Fee Analysis and Plan, for the Town of Hideout, Utah
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APA's Practice Zoning Enforcement article explores the zoning enforcement practices and procedures most likely to achieve results in the shortest time possible based on the personal experiences of a municipal prosecutor handling these kinds of cases.
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ESRI's GIS Solutions for Urban and Regional Planning publication lists multiple local agency examples to show how GIS technology improves planning, operations, and maintenance processes.
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The 2023 Statewide Economic Development Strategy from the Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity presents various themes and strategies that all focus on coordinated and optimal growth for all of Utah.
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The National League of Cities and Rural Community Assistance Partnership together created Developing Regional Economic Connectivity - Key Factors and Strategies for Urban and Rural Communities, which identifies factors that support local participation in regional economic specializations or industry clusters, and assesses the distribution of benefits to places and people when localities work together.
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The Utah Natural Hazards Handbook provides information about specific hazardous events to assist local emergency managers and government officials identify and understand hazards that threaten their communities.
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Land Use Planning and Growth Management: Comparative Policy Perspectives on Urban Sprawl and Future Open Space Preservation, by Michigan State University, examines various perspectives and approaches to land use and growth management. While the primary examples are from the Great Lakes Region of the U.S., the concepts associated with land use planning and management are universal to North America.
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The article Sensitive Lands Planning: Protecting Public Health, Safety, and Welfare for Generations to Come by Aubrey Larsen and Zac Covington focuses on strategies for Utah communities to help preserve important landscapes and protect local residents.
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Example Document:
2023 General Plan for the City of Provo
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Example Document:
2018 General Plan for Sevier County
(Revised 2021)
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Best practices in land use planning can be found in many parts of the world. British Columbia's Modernized Land Use Planning: Best Practices for Writing Plan Content - Goals, Objectives, and Strategies provides detailed content for decision-makers who intend to work in collaboration in developing land use plans to meet community and government goals and objectives.
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The Governors Office of Planning and Budget (GOPB) maintains the Repository of State and Regional Plans to connect users to existing statewide and regional long-range planning documents.
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The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Land-use Planning Systems Country Fact Sheet on the United States provides a helpful summary of the levels of government and their responsibilities and jurisdiction relating to land use.
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ULCT's Land Use Legislative Updates 2006-2017 provides a summary of all the significant legislative changes that impacted Utah during a time period when the state saw substantial growth and expansion.
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Grant Professional Association's (GPA) Grant Tips & Best Practices provides professional feedback on planning, prioritizing, researching, developing, submitting, and managing high-quality grants.
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Get Healthy Utah's (GHU) Strategic Plan details strategies to foster a culture of health through engaging multi-sector stakeholders, building partnerships, providing resources, and connecting efforts that support healthy eating, active living, and mental wellbeing.
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Salt Lake City's Affordable Housing Incentives Program Handbook provides general guidelines for property owners looking to incorporate Affordable Housing Incentives into their project proposal. This document also serves as an example local agencies can use to incorporate incentives into their local process to encourage the development of moderate-income housing.
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The Utah Foundation's Is the Middle Missing? report provides an analysis of missing middle housing in Utah, with recommendations and guidance to expand options for homebuyers and renters in Utah. The study contains an executive summary and a four-part analysis of the topic.
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Land Use Strategies to Bring Housing Back within Reach is a report prepared for the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS), Housing and Community Development (HCD), authored by Envision Utah, and released in 2024. The report identifies state, regional, and local recommendations that can help make housing more affordable.
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Kem C Gardner's Housing Affordability: What Are Best Practices and Why Are They Important study analyzes a survey of leading housing practitioners that identified five "best practices" for housing affordability. The study examines the practices, the implementation of each, and the outcomes produced.
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In 2023, the Cache County Housing Crisis Task Force Report was released, detailing the findings of the 50-member task force comprised of public and private partners reviewing and analyzing data to summarize and better understand housing challenges in Cache County.
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Curbed's 2016 article Tiny Housing Zoning Regulations: What You Need To Know describes various US state's approaches to addressing zoning for tiny homes, accessory dwelling units, and other smaller-footprint housing options.
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MoneyTaskForce.com's 2019 article Tiny House Laws & Regulations: State by State Details provides a national atlas of each state's current land use regulatory framework in regard to tiny home construction and location (as of 2019).
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CityLab's 2018 article Tiny Homes in Boston describes the city's prototype for “pop-up” affordable housing and efforts to ease rules on accessory dwelling units.
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Example Document:
The Pleasant Grove Downtown Village Design Standards and Guidelines document provides an excellent example of establishing design standards and guidelines to provide practical guidelines to help the Planning Commission, City officials, and property owners.
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Envision Utah's How We Grow Matters - 2022 Annual Report highlights the year's planning and land use efforts, celebrating Envision's 25th year.
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Example Document:
Salt Lake City's Transit Station Area Development Guidelines provide a comprehensive list of recommendations to guide new development within a transit station area.
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CNUs 2018 article Gentle Density: Making Neighborhoods Transit-ready discusses Fayetteville, Arkansas' approach to implementing "gentle density" to increase their housing stock, improve citizen access, and support transit ridership through accessory dwelling units that support single-family neighborhood character.
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In 2023, Metro Vancouver Regional Planning released their Costs of Providing
Infrastructure and Services to Different Residential Densities document, which takes a high-level look at the costs of different styles and patterns of residential development. While the document focuses on Vancouver, Canada, the general concepts are applicable to regions throughout North America.
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In 2005, the Halifax Regional Municipality released their Settlement Pattern and Form with Service Cost Analysis document, which takes a high-level look at the costs of different styles and patterns of development. While the document focuses on the Halifax Region of Nova Scotia, Canada, the general concepts are applicable to regions throughout North America.
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Robert's Rules of Order is the most widely used manual of parliamentary procedure in the United States, written primarily to help guide associations in their operations of governance.
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Cornell University's Simplified Version of Robert's Rules of Order provides a brief overview of the most commonly utilized rules to guide and structure your public meetings.
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MRSC's article Strategies for Managing Difficult Public Meetings and Hearings by Byron Katsuyama provides timely and real-world strategies for public officials as they prepare for and conduct public meetings with highly-charged content.
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APA's A Planners Dictionary provides definitions of the technical terms used in planning, zoning, and development, but also the concepts that planners, public officials, and the public address in any consideration of community building. This document fills a valuable niche in any planner’s reference library.
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Utah's Outdoor Recreation Strategic Plan charts a path forward for how Utah's outdoor recreation destinations continue to serve the needs and desires of Utahns and millions of visitors each year.
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WFRC's Public Participation Plan highlights the agency's commitment to engaging the public through various methods and strategies as an integral part of the overall planning process.
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The 2019 Surface Transportation Policy Guide builds on the first guide, adopted by APA in 2010, prior to the emergence of new technologies that may be disruptive to traditional transportation system planning, design, and funding. The purpose of this guide is to provide context to states, regions, and local agencies that may need to develop a much wider set of responses to the challenges of current policy language.
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Utah’s Coordinated Action Plan for Water is a collaborative effort between state agencies to undertake a groundbreaking effort to tackle water issues through bold action. Strategies outlined in this action plan will secure a sustainable and prosperous future for Utahns.
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The Water Resources Plan comprehensively looks at Utah’s current water use and supply conditions and future demand scenarios. This plan is division-specific to the Department of Natural Resources and was the precursor for the State Water Plan.
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The Babbitt Center's Best Practices for Implementing Water Conservation and Demand Management Through Land Use Planning Efforts was created to help Colorado agencies address state law. However, the best practices within it may also apply to local agencies in Utah considering similar topics and strategies due to Colorado's similar climate and geography.
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The goal of APA's Equity in Zoning Policy Guide is to identify specific ways in which the drafting, public engagement, application, mapping, and enforcement of zoning regulations can be changed to dismantle the barriers that perpetuate the separation of historically disadvantaged and vulnerable communities.
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APA's Zoning Practice: Garage Apartments discusses the various strategies that local agencies may employ as they address garage apartments within their community.
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