Law Commons^™

Regional Planning And Land Use Localism: Can They Coexist?, Scott A. Bollens

New England Journal of Public Policy

The potential effectiveness and citizen acceptance of emerging regional and state land use planning programs in New England is examined. To be successful, these programs must find acceptance within a system of historically home-rule, town-based land use governance. This article investigates the interplay between regionalism and parochialism, discusses emerging strategies, and reports on a telephone survey of over three hundred Cape Cod residents that examined local opinion regarding the proposed creation of a regional land use regulatory commission. These citizens were queried about the perceived consequences of greater-than-local land use planning. Although local parochialism was found to be a strongly …