November Course on Resolving Land Use Disputes Focuses on Dialogue
Merrick Hoben of the Consensus Building Institute asked me to share an announcement with you about an upcoming course on Resolving Land Use Disputes. The course will be held November 4-5, 2004 in Ventura, California. The course emphasizes a consensus building approach to resolving land use disputes that brings all the relevant stakeholders together for face-to-face dialogue. Click below for the full announcement or register at www.lincolninst.edu.
COURSE OVERVIEW
Throughout the United States, communities of all sizes are relying on a new approach to resolving land use disputes?—a consensus building approach that brings all the relevant stakeholders together for face-to-face dialogue. Southern California is no exception to growing land use pressures. We invite you to explore collaborative means of addressing land use conflict, apply new tools, and learn best practice lesson gleaned from professional experience.
This course combines the theoretical framework to consensus building with interactive simulations and exercises based on the results of the first comprehensive study of land use mediation in the United States. Case exercises and discussion include disputes over the rate and pattern of development in California communities, conflicts over infrastructure, disagreements over the clean-up of contaminated sites, water usage, and developing comprehensive land use plans.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
To provide for a realistic and lively discussion of experiences, issues, and strategies for resolving land use disputes, the course is designed for a range of typical land use dispute stakeholders, including:
- Environmental, siting, and redevelopment agency representatives
- Public land use planning officials
- Developers as well as utilities, water, and telecommunications industry representatives
- Public health representatives
- Nonprofit environmental and land trust representatives
- Environmental consultants
- Community stakeholders
- University-level instructors of land use planning
- Other professionals, such as attorneys and consultants in brownfields development
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
- Sources of land use disputes
- The role of consensus building in resolving land use disputes
- Strategies to assess the situation
- Strategies to design the process
- Strategies for deliberating and deciding
- Strategies to respond to common problems
WHAT YOU WILL DO
- Discuss and work with cases involving land development and community growth
- Link consensus building theory and practice in the land use context
- Explore whether and when mediation is an appropriate consensus building and conflict resolution tool
SPONSORS
- City of Ventura
Ventura (population 105,000), recently named one of the most livable communities in America, is located along the Pacific Ocean's Santa Barbara Channel -- 60 miles north of Los Angeles and 30 miles south of Santa Barbara. Rich in history, "San Buenaventura" was the last of the California missions established by Father Junipero Serra in 1782. In transition from "classic small beach community," the Ventura City Council has set the goal of becoming a national leader in smart growth and citizen engagement. Ventura County has what the Los Angeles Times recently described as "the most advanced locally imposed system of growth control in the nation" with the City of Ventura leading the way toward "smart growth...as an alternative to suburban sprawl." In an era of divisive growth wars and protracted litigation, Ventura has worked intensively to follow an alternative to "win/lose" models of decision-making -- instead creating broad, citizen-driven consensus and improved ways of handling potentially controversial land use conflicts. The Community Development Department of the City of Ventura is comprised of three Divisions; Long Range Planning and Transportation, Revitalization, and Urban Development.
- Cal Lutheran University, Department of Pubic Policy
California Lutheran University offers graduate study at masters and doctoral levels in the areas of Education, Psychology, Business, and Public Administration. The Masters in Public Policy and Administration Program and its affiliated Center for Public Value are concerned with state and local government issues. The MPPA program is designed to meet the educational needs of management professionals in the public and non-profit sectors. The Center for Public Value works collaboratively with community, non-profit, and public agencies -- providing technical assistance with respect to a range of issues -- community capacity-building, organizational performance, and policy outcomes. For further information see www.clunet.edu/graduate /college_ arts_science/MPPA/index.php.
For customized information, you may reach the Director of the MPPA Program, Dr. Herbert Gooch, at , or the Director of The Center for Public Value, Dr. Terence Harwick, at .
COURSE INSTRUCTORS
Matthew McKinney
Director
Public Policy Research Institute
University of Montana
Merrick Hoben
Senior Associate
Consensus Building Institute
COURSE DEVELOPER
Professor Lawrence Susskind
President, Consensus Building Institute
Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School
Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
REGISTRATION
Registration deadline is October 21, 2004. Tuition is $200. This fee covers all sessions, lunch, refreshments, and course materials, including two Lincoln Institute of Land Policy publications: Using Assisted Negotiation to Settle Land Use Disputes: A Guidebook for Public Officials and Mediating Land Use Disputes: Pros and Cons. A limited number of scholarships are available from the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy for individuals and organizations in need.
Enrollment is limited to 50. To guarantee a place in the program, payment arrangements must be made prior to the course.
Cancellation Policy: Cancellations received by October 21, 2004 will be refunded. Cancellations received after this date and ?“no shows?” will be charged the full registration fee. Should you be unable to attend, please notify us by phone, fax, or e-mail.
There are three easy ways to register:
Call: 888.845.8759
E-mail:
Online: www.lincolninst.edu
