[WEC] FYI - The Smarter Land Use Project: Solving Persistent Problems with Effective Collaboration

[Rob Zako]

Dear WEC friends.. especially Oregon Consensus Program and Osprey  
Group friends,

FYI, while working on a different project (related to the "Big Look"  
at Oregon's land use planning program), I came across "The Smarter  
Land Use Project." This small nonprofit was started in 1989 by Karl  
Kehde, growing out of his involvement in the Pinelands Review  
Committee in New Jersey. Kehde has since participated in roughly 50  
proposed land development projects in New Jersey, New York,  
Pennsylvania, Florida, Vermont, and Washington.

Kehde has written a 190-page Collaborative Land Use Planning  
guidebook, which can be freely downloaded:

A guidebook for building trust and achieving effective collaboration  
among neighbors, developers, city planners, and environmentalists

Eight chapters show you the way:
Introduction
Chapter 1. Collaborative Planning : Who? What? Why? How?
Chapter 2. The Collaborative Planning Process
Chapter 3. Q & A About Collaborative Planning
Chapter 4. How to Work With the Developer
Chapter 5. Aerial Photos and Project Modeling Materials
Chapter 6. How to Design Community-Enhancing Projects
Chapter 7. The Master Plan and Collaborative Planning
Chapter 8. History of the Smarter Land Use Project

Plus an Appendix and a CD full of forms you can use:
Checklist of community-enhancing features
Cutouts of recreational facilities and buildings
Planning Board Letter to developers
Planning Board Letter to neighbors
Invitation to a stakeholders meeting
Sample Agenda for a stakeholders meeting
Update Letter to the planning board after the stakeholders meeting
Consensus Checklist: The basis for (re)building trust
Collaborative Planning Guidelines for the planning board to adopt

Note that the Smarter Land Use Project appears to be mainly focused on  
helping developers, neighbors and planning commissioners work together  
on a SINGLE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT. In contrast, we have been talking  
about a COMMUNITY DESIGN PROCESS for west Eugene. Nevertheless, I  
expect the general principles are similar.

In particular, the "Consensus Checklist" (page 166) echoes experiences  
we have had together. (See below.)

Best wishes,
Rob Z



Consensus Checklist:
The highest participation and creative involvement from the most people

1. We spend time establishing trusting relationships with each other.  
We strive for trust in one another and practice values and learn  
skills which foster better relationships. We realize that we  
absolutely benefit from each other.

2. We are willing to learn skills in team participation, facilitation,  
and communications.

3. We each try to be concise and relevant in what we say.

4. We may present both information and opinions. We seek to express  
and understand the feelings that influence the ideas we present. It is  
okay to discuss emotional as well as logical factors. We may express  
confusion, uneasiness, and intuitive doubts.

5. We do not identify with or become attached to our ideas. Ideas are  
a product of human interchange and rightfully belong to the whole  
collaborative planning team. Each person’s ideas are gifts from and to  
the team. All issues are problems shared by the team.

6. We aim for a balance between being persuasive and being  
persuadable. We are each open to the influence of new information and  
perspectives as we try to understand other perspectives. We are open  
to change.

7. We each have a unique and valid perspective on the truth. We  
respect each other’s ideas and reinforce their validity.

8. We keep encouraging quiet participants to become involved. We  
expect all participants to contribute and participate equally, despite  
differences in seniority, assertiveness, and experience.

9. We share with each other the responsibility of ensuring that all  
contributions are effectively voiced and heard. Everyone contributes  
and influences equally in decision-making. influences equally in  
decision-making.

10. We always listen for the attractive aspects of an idea. We each  
offer positive solutions to improve proposals, rather than pointing  
out weaknesses.

11. Conflict is an important element that spurs people on to clever  
thinking, better understanding, and greater creativity. We acknowledge  
the influence of cultural prejudices and seek to discuss the social  
attitudes that underlie the conflict.

12. We want to explore conflicting concerns to discover innovative  
solutions. We welcome diverse viewpoints in our design of the most  
community-enhancing project.

13. We consider the goal of the team above our own. We seek solutions  
with which we can all agree. We want to discover the choice that is  
most acceptable to all participants. The goal is team unity.

14. We want to be together as one friendly team.

Consensus is a cooperative learning process through which we support  
each other in becoming more healthy human beings – a calm, friendly  
gathering to express truth.

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