A 'Pro-Homes Playbook' for Planning and Land Use Commissioners

Desegregate Connecticut, the organization working for planning and zoning reforms in the Constitution State, recently published a series of "playbooks" intended to spur action at the local level.

1 minute read

October 10, 2021, 5:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Hartford Connecticut

Global Jet / Flickr

Desegregate Connecticut—a pro-housing development coalition that formed in 2020, released the Connecticut Zoning Atlas in early 2021, and helped get statewide zoning reforms approved in the Connecticut State Legislature—recently released a trio of "playbooks" that helps land use commissioners, candidates for land use commissioner, and land use advocates "Be the Change."

Each playbook lays out actions available to reform the planning and zoning status quo. The playbook for land use commissioners, for example, describes zoning as both a problem and a solution (for both equity and the environment in both cases) before laying out a reform agenda and providing pointers for how to achieve those goals.

As for a list of suggested reform, the playbook for land use commissioners recommends

  1. Improve permitting for small-scale family housing
  2. Promote accessory apartments
  3. Allow equitable transit-oriented communities
  4. Reduce minimum lot sizes

Thursday, October 7, 2021 in Desegregate Connecticut

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

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