Using Spatial Analysis to Develop a Comprehensive Statewide Land Use Plan

Mike Mahaffie, Delaware

• Three counties• 57 municipalities• 2,000 square miles• 885,000 people• One state government pays:

• 90% of roads• 60% – 80% school const.• 100 % school trans.• Most of police/EMS

• State Strategies for Policies and Spending• First version – 1999• Second – 2004• Third – Now

• Four “Investment Levels” and “Out of Play”

• Generally match municipalities/traditional growth patterns

Yes, it is a golf reference

• Growth areas• Existing development • Existing infrastructure• Planned infrastructure• Schools and libraries• Police, Fire and EMS coverage

• Very simple buffers• Hospitals• Etc.

• High-value aglands and working forests

• “Protected Lands”• TDR sending areas• Corridor capacity

preservation areas• The Delaware Coastal Zone• Wetlands (plus a buffer)• Floodplain• Water Recharge Areas• Etc.

Google “Delaware Coastal Zone Act” sometime

Value

High : 20

Low : -11

Then, the fun begins…

• Publicly-owned• Federal• State• Local

• Permanently preserved• Purchased development

rights• Tidal wetlands

Don’t talk to me about “Steep Slopes.”This is Delaware

• Public meetings to gather general comment

• Significant mark-up in meetings with county and municipal government• Add-in all annexation and

growth areas• Trim back a few places• General customization

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• Every inch of the state accounted for

• Slivers and gaps and blivits edited away

• Polygons simplified and merged where appropriate

• Ready, when approved, to help guide state agency spending decisions• (If the legislators don’t

mind)

And local governments may, or may not, pay any attention

• The level of detail I’m allowed in the Document:• “…created using a spatial

data analysis that balances state, county and local policies that favor growth for different areas of the state with policies that favor land preservation, agricultural economic development, and natural resource management.”

Maybe I should sit down now