Planning For the Future From the Winter 1999 issue - Volume II, Issue 1. The answer is all of the above. Yet, one important influence on the way communities evolve and grow is not on this list - local development regulations, including subdivision and zoning ordinances. In particular, it is the zoning ordinance that legally prevails and ultimately determines future development possibilities. One technique for shaping the way a community develops is called growth management.
Growth management is a planning approach that addresses the problems of rapid development.
It is as much a philosophy as it is a collection of tools and techniques. It is an approach that recognizes growth is inevitable, whether a community desires it or not. Many traditional planning tools, such as the comprehensive plan, are used to guide how and where the community's share of expected growth is to occur. This helps to ensure that growth takes place in a way that is acceptable and beneficial to the community while reducing its negative effects. By 2020, this figure will be 18.4 percent.