Press Releases
MSU Adds Online Option for Land Use Training
January 25, 2007
Most people don’t think about land use planning until someone tries to build a big-box store or a massive residential development a little too close for comfort. But Michigan’s 14,000 local planning and zoning officials have to think about it every day.
Increasingly, they are upgrading their planning skills through state-of-the-art education, which they now can get online.
“Online is the only way I could have done it with everything else I have going on,” said Dave Belcher, Independence Township director of building, planning and zoning. “I shut my door and put my phone on ‘do not disturb.’”
Belcher said he expects to save $25,000 a year in consulting fees with the new knowledge and training provided to him and his staff by the Citizen Planner program and the Citizen Planner Online program offered by Michigan State University Extension. Now they’ll be able to anticipate problems and more efficiently use the township’s financial resources.
Belcher and three other local planning officials will receive special certificates from MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon Thursday, January 25, in recognition of being the first to complete the online course. The launch of Citizen Planner Online will be celebrated from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. at a reception in the Red Cedar Room of the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center on the MSU campus.
The celebration will include a hands-on demonstration of Citizen Planner Online. Also, state Senator Patricia Birkholz of Saugatuck Township will make a significant announcement related to the online course.
Citizen Planner, an Extension program within MSU’s Land Policy Institute, began educating local planning officials about land use planning and options in 2002, reaching about 600 local officials a year with a seven-week classroom course. Meanwhile, in 2003, the Michigan Land Use Leadership Council recommended that 60 percent of Michigan’s 14,000 local planning officials be trained by 2010. Clearly, the classroom approach would not meet that goal.
“The need is there, the demand is there, but we didn’t have the delivery mechanism to meet it,” said Wayne Beyea, an Extension specialist and state coordinator of the Citizen Planner program.
Citizen Planner received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and People and Land to develop an online program that would provide such a delivery system. After taking the online course, planning officials will be prepared for more advanced training offered by other statewide associations, including Michigan Association of Planning, Michigan Association of Counties, Michigan Municipal League, and Michigan Townships Association.
The online version of the course became available in December. Forty-one self-paced, independent study units packaged into seven modules allow participants to achieve mastery. Seven of the units are designed to improve decision-making through analysis, synthesis, and evaluation skills.
“Each unit will take between a half hour and two hours,” Beyea said. “Participants can enroll in the complete course, or in individual units.”
“I found it very interesting,” said Belcher, who completed the course in two weeks. “There were different scenarios all the way through. It was easy to retain information.”
Belcher and his staff now use that information to answer questions and anticipate issues the community may face, and avoid costly mistakes.
“I can’t think of a better example of MSU’s Boldness by Design strategy than the Citizen Planner Online program,” said President Simon. “Through this type of innovation and outreach, we will change minds, change lives, and change the future.”
