The APA Growing Smart Project: The Back Story (Some of It)
Session: The Inside Story on Growing Smart
April 14, 10:15 AM
Stuart Meck, FAICP
APA Research Department
ABSTRACT: Stuart Meck, FAICP, the principal investigator
for the American Planning Association's Growing Smart project, describes
the seven-year effort to draft the next generation of model planning
and zoning enabling legislation for the U.S. Meck reviews the genesis
of the project through the APA and a federal study commission. He highlights
the project's
"no-one-size-fits-all" philosophy. He provides an overview
of the model legislation and commentary contained in the project's Legislative
Guidebook. Finally, he discusses some of the controversial aspects
of the project, including proposals on vesting, standing to sue, and
development moratoria.
Author and Copyright Information
Copyright 2002 by author
Stuart Meck, FAICP, is a Senior Research Fellow with the American Planning Association. Since 1994, he has been Principal Investigator for the APA’s Growing SmartSM project, a long-term effort to draft and implement the next generation of model planning and zoning legislation for the U.S. The project is based in APA’s Chicago Research Department, where Meck participates in other research initiatives. A former APA National President, Meck was also a Commissioner on the American Institute of Certified Planners Commission (AICP), the professional testing and credentialling affiliate within APA. He is also a Fellow of the Institute. Meck was a founding member of APA’s Amicus Curiae Committee, which intervenes in federal and state land-use and planning litigation.
He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Journalism and a Master of City Planning from the Ohio State University. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from Wright State University. He is a registered professional community planner in the State of Michigan and a licensed professional planner in the State of New Jersey. Meck has 31 years of professional experience. He has served as assistant city manager and planning director of Oxford, Ohio, and on the staffs of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission in Dayton, Ohio, and of the Memphis and Shelby County Planning Commission in Memphis, Tennessee. He has also been a planning consultant.
He has written widely on planning and land-use issues for many years and his articles have appeared in the Journal of the American Planning Association, The Planner: The Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute, the Washington University Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law, and Land Use Law & Zoning Digest, among others. He is also the author of several book chapters, including chapters in the International City/County Management Association’s “Green Book” series. With Professor Kenneth Pearlman of the Ohio State University graduate planning program, he has co-authored Ohio Planning and Zoning Law, a treatise published annually by West Group in softbound and CD-ROM versions and which has been cited by the Ohio Supreme Court and Ohio Court of Appeals.