Planning Commissioners Guide: Processes for Reasoning Together

Across the country, communities rely on their planning commissions for guidance. But who guides the planning commissioners?

This step-by-step guidebook gets new commissioners off on the right foot and helps experienced commission members navigate their roles. The authors, all practicing planners, have worked extensively with planning commissions for decades. They have watched commissioners scramble up a steep learning curve, sit in the hot seat of controversy, and strive to make sound decisions for the places they call home.

In this helpful handbook, the authors share ideas, insights, and information to help commissioners succeed. Eight detailed chapters cover everything from the nuts and bolts of development applications to the nuances of legal issues to the part commissioners play in long-range planning. Readers will learn how to prepare for their first commission meeting, review a development plan, invite productive public input, and steer clear of ethical dilemmas. Added resources include a glossary of planning terms, a list of training resources, and the American Planning Association’s Statement of Ethical Principles in Planning. For anyone serving on a planning commission, The Planning Commissioners Guide is essential reading.

C. Gregory Dale, faicp, is a founding principal with McBride Dale Clarion, the Cincinnati affiliate of Clarion Associates.

Benjamin A. Herman, faicp, is a principal in the Fort Collins office of Clarion Associates and leads the firm’s nationwide planning practice.

Anne F. McBride, faicp, is a founding principal with McBride Dale Clarion in Cincinnati.