The Politics of Zoning Reform: Targeting Your Communications

Zoning reform is a political campaign. Coder Susan Henderson talks about audience dynamics, with a special focus on how to communicate with property owners and the developer community.

1 minute read

October 2, 2012, 10:00 AM PDT

By Hazel Borys


Henderson has led scores of form-based zoning reform efforts across the continent and pulls from those experiences to talk more about communication dynamics:

"There are two audiences that have special communications needs: property owners and the developer community. These groups are frequently in conflict, and have impressive political power. Adoption of a new zoning code requires both groups to recognize their own success in the context of your efforts."

"Making this happen requires you to be a quick study of their needs and goals. Zoning reform requires clear and compelling messaging, communication across strategically chosen media, and translation of technical language into something accessible to the community at large. The explanatory documents most closely tied to the ordinance are zoning equivalency tables, an executive summary, and entitlement analyses."

Thanks to Hazel Borys

Thursday, September 27, 2012 in PlaceShakers

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