2010 PlanVIRGINIA CPEAV Planning and Zoning Law Seminar

The sixth annual Citizens Planning Education Association of Virginia (CPEAV) Legal Seminar will be presented Friday, July 23 at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel. The seminar will examine a range of topics that will likely change the character and focus of community planning practices across much of the commonwealth for years to come. The seminar has been designed to assist the citizen planner, as well as professional planner, gain insight and perspective regarding cutting edge techniques and practices that can be used to address local planning and zoning issues. The July 23 seminar will be registered with the APA for CM credits.

The seminar will begin with an overview of 2010 Virginia General Assembly actions impacting planning and zoning practices. George Homewood, Virginia Chapter APA Vice – President for Legislative Affairs, will conduct this session. The seminar’s second session will feature George Homewood, in his role as Director of Community Development in New Kent County and Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. They will discuss the interface involving cluster development, new urbanism and urban development areas. The final morning session on July 23 will focus on the recently adopted Frederick County Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) Ordinance. Eric Lawrence, Director of Planning in Frederick County and Candice Perkins, a planner in Frederick County, will review the ordinance focusing on its genesis, structure, content and how it will work in the county. The Frederick County TDR Ordinance is the first ordinance of its kind in Virginia. It may well serve as a template for other localities across the state.

Following lunch and remarks from Delegate Clay Athey (Invited), the afternoon portion of the seminar (three CM contact hours) will be devoted to the state mandate that county comprehensive plans must be updated/amended to include one or more designated urban development areas (UDA’s) by July 1, 2011. The 2011 mandate impacts 54 of Virginia’s 95 counties. It is important to note that selected Virginia cities (12) and towns (30) must satisfy the UDA mandate by July 1, 2012.

The afternoon session on July 23 will review steps and actions localities can take to meet the UDA mandate. Representatives from VDOT, led by Paul Grasewicz, have agreed to participate as have representatives from the four consulting firms VDOT has retained to assist localities in meeting the July 1, 2011 mandate. This session will be hands-on. Considerable time will be devoted to understanding the full scope of the mandate within the context of best planning practices. Modeling and simulation techniques will be shared.

Questions concerning the July 23 Legal Seminar can be directed to Mike Chandler, CPEAV’s Director of Education or Allen Webb, CPEAV Executive Director. Chandler can be reached at 804-794-6236 or by email care of rmchan@vt.edu. Allen Webb can be reached via staff@cpeav.org. The 2010 Legal Seminar registration fee is $120 per person. This fee covers all expenses and activities associated with the day-long program. Travel and lodging will be the responsibility of each attendee. A block of rooms at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel have been set aside for those who will require overnight accommodations. The room rate will be $112. The registration form for the 2010 Legal Seminar is available on the CPEAV website care of cpeav.org.