The mission of the Community Planning Program is to encourage community prosperity and the conservation of natural, agricultural, scenic and historic resources in communities through sustainable planning and development. This mission is accomplished through public education and technical assistance to promote practices which achieve a balance of conservation and development. These include planning, zoning, design, and construction measures to improve the quality of developed neighborhoods, retain views, conserve open space and natural features, and improve environmental quality on land that is to be developed or redeveloped.

In 1996, the Countryside Program was established as a project of the Western Reserve Resource Conservation and Development Council. The Council is a consortium of County Commissioners, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and At-Large members in a 9-county area in Northeast Ohio. The Council has supported the program through 10 years of expanding involvement in land use and conservation issues.

In 2004, the RC&D Council began a strategic planning process, which ultimately led to the decision to find a home for Countryside that would afford greater capacity for services to our constituents, and a more sustainable financial footing. In 2006, the Program began a new life as part of the Center for Planning Research and Practice at the Levin College. At the same time, the Program took on the coordination of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Best Local Land Use Practices program, an outreach program assisting local governments with implementing Balanced Growth practices. In the fall of 2009, the Program is changed its name, becoming the Community Planning Program, part of the Center for Community Planning and Development at the Levin College. Simultaneously, The Best Local Land Use Practices program begins its mission as a statewide effort promoting balanced growth practices to local governments in seven metropolitan regions of Ohio, under the direction of the Ohio Water Resources Council and the Ohio Lake Erie Commission. We are excited about the prospects for expanding our capacity to assist communities with their education, research, and technical assistance needs.

Since its inception in 1996, the Program has conducted over 300 workshops, and over 200 technical assistance projects. The Program developed the Conservation Development Resource Manual, which won the Ohio Planning Conference Award in 1999; a model regulation for Residential Conservation Development; and an informational video.

In 2002/2003, Kirby Date led the Local Best Practices work group for the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Balanced Growth. She is the author/editor of the Best Local Land Use Practices document of the Balanced Growth program, published in 2004. Since 2006 she has led the Best Local Land Use Practices Program for the Ohio Lake Erie Commission’s Balanced Growth Initiative, and is leading the program statewide since 2009. In 2005, the program also published Case Studies in Family Land Conservation, the culmination of a three year project to assist 15 landowners throughout the region in early decisionmaking for their land. The Program has also assisted individual local communities with planning projects, including a downtown district plan for the Village of Jefferson in Ashtabula County

Kirby Date, AICP, Program Manager

Ms. Date collaborates with faculty and professional staff within the Levin College, and is assisted by professional planner and student planner staff as needed for specific projects.