Model Local Sustainable Development Code

Provides a model sustainable development code to local communities across the globe.

There are thousands of local governments. Each day these governments and the communities they serve are confronted with a variety of changing circumstances and conditions. These changes affect economic, environmental, and social conditions—all implicating the health and welfare of citizens. Some of these governments, such as Amsterdam, San Francisco, and Copenhagen, have the resources to adapt to these changes as they occur. However, most jurisdictions do not. Further, many jurisdictions are working with local land use codes that are decades old. In many cases, it is the poor and economically depressed communities that have fewer abilities to adapt to changes. The model Sustainable Development Code is designed to address this. It provides governments across the world with the best sustainable development code practices whether they have millions of people or four-hundred people. The Code is designed to give these communities the resources they need to be able to adapt to circumstances as they change. In this way, the Code provides a useful service to thousands of communities and millions of people.

The Code is a broad-based, interdisciplinary effort to move to more sustainable development in diverse communities. Over the past eight months an interdisciplinary group designed the framework for the Code. That framework is founded on quick accessibility, meaning communities can easily utilize the information to adopt new policies, and broad applicability, meaning the Code applies equally to dense urban areas and sparse, rural areas. It also applies to thirty-two primary development areas, including Housing Affordability (chapter 6.1), Pedestrian Mobility (chapter 5.3), and Water Supply Quality and Quantity (chapter 2.4). Governments can select which of these areas are most important to them. Most importantly, the Code is designed to provide quick and concrete information so that governing bodies and staff can utilize the material and implement changes quickly.

Each of the thirty-two chapters provides 35-45 specific action items on that particular topic. For each action item, there is a corresponding brief that is designed to be handed directly to local officials and staff. Each brief consists of: An introduction (what is this proposed ordinance doing); An effects section (how does this proposed ordinance affect the specific topic); Examples (2-3 fleshed out examples of local governments that have adopted these ordinances with citations and links to the actual codes); Additional Examples (4-6 additional examples that consist of links to the specific code sections and a parenthetical explaining the example.

Since establishing this framework, we have been moving forward on three fronts. First and administratively, we now have an inter-disciplinary advisory committee comprised of experts and practitioners from a variety of disciplines. Second, we are building out the content and expanding the collaborative. Third, we are designing a website. We expect to launch the website at the end of the summer or beginning of fall 2019 with 2/3 of the chapters completed.

This effort brings together many disciplines (law, planning, architecture, government, economics, health) to provide a needed resource to thousands of local communities. In addition, the Code strictly addresses local laws, and not policies or broad-based planning. It is designed to be hyper-pragmatic.

The Code must be available to as many communities as possible for free.

Draft 20 of the 30 chapters and launch the website with 2/3 of the chapters drafted. We will draft the remaining 10 chapters in 2020 and update 10 chapters a year, keeping the materials fresh and innovative.

The 30 chapters act as a menu of challenges facing local communities. In addition to the chapters mentioned earlier, they include Hazard Resilience, Coastal Communities, and Climate Change.

As we launch the website, we hope to open communication with communities so that they can share the local laws they have passed and that others can adopt.

Within the next three years, we expect to be serving dozens of communities representing millions of people.

We have many folks representing a diverse network, including:

Ralph Becker, former Mayor, Salt Lake City, UT, former President, National League of Cities

Michelle Crim, Sustainability Manager, City of Portland, OR

Susan Daggett, Executive Director, Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute, Denver, CO

Christopher Duerksen, Senior Advisor, Clarion Associates, Denver, CO

Laura Graham, Director of Performance & Innovation, City of Des Moines, IA

Gary Hack, former Dean and Professor Emeritus of City & Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA

Molly Mowery, Founder and President of Wildfire Planning International, Aurora, CO

I'm glad to provide a full budget upon request, but our budget is about 110,000 (US dollars) for the first three years as we built out the content. About 40% of that has been procured.

The more exposure the model code has, the more communities will know about it and be better able to change their laws to protect their communities.

Letting communities know it exists and having funds to build out the content.