In the decades following the first Earth Day in 1970, a generation has been enlightened about the unspeakable damage done to our planet. Federal, state, and local governments generated laws and regulations to control development and protect the environment. Local governments have developed environmental standards addressing their needs. The result-an ecologically incongruous pattern of land development known as urban sprawl.
Local land use planners can have a greater effect on the quality of our environment than all of the federal and state regulators combined. Historically, they have existed on the periphery of land management. The author suggests that federal and state environmental regulators need to incorporate local governments into their environmental protection plans. Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning provides easily understood, nuts and bolts solutions for controlling urban sprawl, emphasizing the integration of federal, state, and local land use plans.
The book discusses ecological resources and provides practical solutions that municipal planners can implement immediately. It discusses the most recent scientific data, how to extract what is important, and how to apply it to the local land planning process. The author includes the application of the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to problem solving.
Despite compelling evidence and sound arguments favoring the implementation of an ecologically sensitive approach to land use planning, municipal planners, in general, remain skeptical. It will take considerably more encouragement and education to win them over completely. Ecologically Based Municipal Land Use Planning makes the case for sound land use policies that will reduce sprawl.
NTI/Sales Copy
Biography
William B. Honachefsky, an environmental scientist, is also licensed as a professional planner, a professional land surveyor, and a health officer; is a Certified Hazard Control Manager, Master Level, and a professional in soil and erosion control. For the past 29 years he has specialized in the fields of environmental protection and land use planning, both in private enterprise and state and federal government. He developed New Jersey’s first trace metal analyses protocols and organized and operated that state’s first water resources emergency response sampling team. He is the author of two prior books on land use and environmental planning and is a recognized expert in watershed planning and management.
