Introduction | Certificate Program and Course Costs | List of Current Courses
Course Topics and Descriptions
Planning Your Community’s Future
(“Planning 101”)
This course will provide valuable information for all elected officials who have to consider and act upon comprehensive plans, land use and zoning matters, and other growth issues. Participation will also be important for planning and zoning commissioners, board of adjustment members, and others who take part in community planning and land-development matters. The course covers:
You Can Manage Growth: The Local Planning Toolbox (“Planning 102”)
This course introduces the variety of controls typically used at local levels and available to local governments to deal with land use and growth issues. Included are zoning, subdivision, site plan, community design, performance controls, overlay districts, tax policy, and other approaches. The course covers:
Land-Development Administration (“Planning 103”)
This is a hands-on course that has been designed to build the skills required to apply municipal zoning codes to day-to-day development activity. It will also involve the reading and review of development plans, with a focus on their relationship to municipal zoning and subdivision regulations. In-class exercises will engage course participants in the review of actual planning documents. There will also be a discussion of the linkage between zoning and subdivision codes and a municipality’s adopted comprehensive plan.
Community Design (“Planning 104”)
This course will explore the concepts of community design, based upon the framework of the report Better Models for Development in Delaware, which is part of the Livable Delaware Initiative. Discussion will focus on the integration of the comprehensive plan, subdivision and zoning codes, and community-design principles. An in-class exercise involving the review of a community-design problem will engage participants in a demonstration of the skills needed to ensure the proper coordination of community-design principles with municipal-development goals.
Mobility-Friendly Design (“Planning 205”)
Your new Comprehensive Development Plan identifies the need to revise your codes to be more pedestrian- and mobility-friendly. Why is it important, what does that mean, and how do you go about doing it? This course will address the key components of walkable communities and considerations to maximize the advantages of transit. Coverage of each component will include examples, specific dimensions and standards, and where and how to implement them.
Board of Adjustment Issues (“Planning 206”)
The Board of Adjustment is an important quasi-judicial municipal body. This seminar will provide an overview of:
Housing for Delaware: Balancing Community Needs (“Planning 207”)
This course explores the housing challenges Delawareans face and the resources and tools available to address these challenges. An up-to-date overview of the needs for housing in Delaware will be provided, particularly the needs of our low- and moderate-income households. The Delaware State Housing Authority’s (DSHA’s) “Toolbox” to assist local governments in addressing their housing needs will be discussed, together with the new comprehensive-planning guidelines regarding affordable housing. This material will be of value to elected officials, county and local staff, and any others concerned about housing.
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