Community Compass library

Look it up before the meeting

Plain-language explanations and real questions from residents, volunteers, and local officials about zoning, codes, housing, neighborhoods, organizations, and local economies. Laws and programs change and vary by place, so confirm anything time-sensitive with your local office or the current official source.

Environment, transportation & sustainabilityClear search

Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
1960s Suburb Needs Refreshing
Visitor Question: Our 1960s suburb used to be the envy of the city. Our reputation was of great homogeneous neighborhoods, a wonderful place to raise a
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Active participation of students in Park Clean Up
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Visitor Question: With rapid development and urbanization most cities are unable to cope with the clean up of the areas.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Advantages and disadvantages of felt need approach
Visitor Question: What are five advantages and five disadvantages of the felt need approach? Editors' Reply: We don't know whether we can give you five
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Aims and Objectives of Community Development
Last Updated: May 31, 2024 Visitor Question: What are the basic aims and objectives of community development? Editors' Reply: The aims of community development
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
An Alley Clean Up with a Purpose!
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Website Visitor Wrote: I think a wonderful alley clean-up project would be to make it green! A friend of mine recently did
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Apartment Dumpster Area Problem
Visitor Question: Should apartment dumpster areas be enclosed for safety and health reasons? If you rent and requested an enclosure be done and still
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Are cities part of a watershed?
What exactly is a watershed? Are cities part of it, or does the city absorb too much water. Editors' Reply: In a word, yes. A watershed is simply
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Are very large cities better?
Visitor Question: What are the consequences that we can expect if we continue to allow and encourage larger and larger cities to be built? I think cities
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Ask a Neighborhood Work or Community Development Question
Ask a community development question and receive answers from editors and maybe site visitors. All community and economic development topics are welcome.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Ask Your Questions About Community Environmental Issues Right Here
When you ask questions about community environmental issues at the neighborhood level, we can tailor a non-technical answer to your specific situation.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Auto Repair Business vs. Boat Repair Business
Visitor Question: Our ordinances limit a boat repair business much more than auto repair. I'm just wondering what the rationale is behind that? I am looking
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Beautification Projects cost money and North Carolina provides Special Funding or Grants
Visitor Question: Are grants provided by a State, such as North Carolina, required to be paid back in any way or fashion? How do I find the information
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Being harassed by the city
Visitor Question: My dad's property is in violation. It has been more than two years since we got the first letter. Today, we got the second administrative
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Best way to identify community needs quickly
Visitor Question: I am volunteering to help a local church reach out to its surrounding community and open its doors and 40,000 square feet of unused space
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Buffer requirements
Reviewed: June 12, 2024 Visitor Question: My question is how to interpret the term abuts in a zoning ordinance. Our ordinance says this. Where a commercial
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Building whatever I want
Visitor Question: If I own a property with no deed restrictions, could I build whatever I want on the property? Or if it was a yurt in Florida would that
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Business in a subdivision
Visitor Question I live in a Texas rural area, three miles from Pleasanton. I have called every county department for answers, and no one knows the answer.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Business model for a Community Development Center with ICT and entrepreneurial courses
Visitor Question: I am having a challenge of coming up with a social business model canvas to understand how the business at a center that has already
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Can Bed and Breakfast Become Group Home?
Visitor Question: In a non-zoned area, can a property with multiple buildings being used as a bed and breakfast be sold as a residential property for a
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Can emphasizing historic events lead to town revitalization?
Visitor Question: Our community is a little bit divided over how much we want to call attention to certain historic events that occurred at different places
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Can our board president take on a responsibility without anyone knowing about it
Visitor Question: What happened in our neighborhood is very disappointing to me. It seems like our neighborhood association's board president told the
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Can we force contractors to keep down the dust?
Published: September 28, 2024 Visitor Question: I live on a busy road. The city has decided it wants to upgrade the street. Considering the number of
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Career Paths for Addressing Urban Sprawl
Visitor Question: I was wondering if you might be able to advise. After spending a number of years in retail, I'm looking into changing careers to something
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Changing the Name of a Town
Visitor Question: What are the steps in the process of changing the name of a town? Our town and its attending unincorporated areas sharing the same zip
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
City moratorium on development
Visitor Question:Is it legal for a city to have a moratorium on development? Our medium-sized city has discussed this a little bit in an open meeting of
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
City of Delray Beach Alleyway Cleanup Project
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Visitor Writes: The City of Delray Beach Public Works Department (Streets & Storm Water Divisions) completed our alleyway
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
City Sign Regulations Too Tough on New Business
Visitor Question: Our city has refused to allow us to even apply for a permit for a flag to advertise our business. They have railroaded us into 8 months
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Clean Your Streams Day 21
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Visitor Story: In September 2017, Partners for Clean Streams hosted the 21st Annual Clean Your Streams Day in Northwest Ohio.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Closed Business Now an Eyesore
Visitor Question: We have a permanently closed business in our downtown whose owner refuses to sell. He is using it as an online liquidation sale location
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Combining subdivided lots
Visitor Question: I am considering purchasing a 16 acre piece of property. It has already been divided into smaller lots. Can some of the lots be put back
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Community Clean Up Projects Helping Individuals
I would love to start a community based program where we help other residents with their yard work or other projects. The people I would like to benefit
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Community Development tradeoffs
Visitor Question: What happens when conflicts arise between the policy makers and some of the community members, such as the community thinking jobs is
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Condo Complex in a PUD Zone
Visitor Question: Good Morning, I am an Appraiser working on an assignment within a condominium complex that is located in a zoned PUD district. The condo
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Confronting the Causes of Urban Sprawl
Causes of urban sprawl include an appetite for larger private houses and insensitivity to the consequences. Weak regional controls add to the problem.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Creative Ways for Park Clean Up!
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Website Visitor Wrote: Too many people visit parks and other outdoor locations and do not practice a leave no trace philosophy.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Definition of Economic Development Corporation
Visitor Question: What is an economic development corporation? Is that the same thing as a community development corporation? Editors Say: Generally
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Definition of Urban Sprawl Relates to Urban Land Use
A definition of urban sprawl, explanation and definition of sprawl in smaller towns, and statistics and charts start to tell the story all about sprawl.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Design Standards versus Performance Standards
Visitor Question: If design standards and performance standards appear in the same division of a development code, can both be used to bring a code violation
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Developer Extending Our Neighborhood
Note: When a developer proposes to extend a neighborhood and submits a plan that is quite different from the original subdivision proposal, all sorts
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Developer's Plan not filed
Visitor Question: I purchased a new home in a new seven-phase development, and in hindsight, I never received a Developer's Plan. And, to my dismay, no
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Difference between open space and preserve
Reviewed: June 12, 2024 Visitor Question: What is the difference between open space and a nature preserve? We have what the neighbors call a preserve
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Down Town Vacant Lot Clean Up
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Visitor Question: I live in Detroit Michigan and we have different groups of volunteers to try and clean the streets of Detroit.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Down zone of property without notice
Visitor Question: Must a landowner be personally notified that his property is being Down-zoned? I bought two parcels of property totaling about 120 acres
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Effects of Urban Sprawl: Costs, Health, Environment
Remedying the effects of urban sprawl could bring new urban core investment, more walkable communities, quality open space, and lower utility and public sector costs.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Empty parking lot at a big strip center
Visitor Question: When you stop and look at it, a huge strip center near my house is really ugly. Mostly my husband and I don't pay attention, but one
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Environmental impact of large reflective solar panels
Visitor Question: Currently the world is trying to move away from conventional sources of energy. For that, a better option seems to be solar energy. The
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Environmental Justice Is A Matter of Fair Distribution
Learn how neighborhoods, planning commissions, and communities can further environmental justice among economic, racial, and ethnic groups.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Essential Steps in Strategic Planning for Communities
Visitor Question: What are the most important steps in a strategic planning process for a community? Is it necessary to do a SWOT analysis? Editors'
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Exploring the Definition of Sustainable Development
The definition of sustainable development can be applied at the town or neighborhood scale.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Felt needs community development theory
Visitor Question: What is felt needs theory in community development? Editors Reply: Felt needs is an idea about a change that is considered necessary
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Fewer homeowners and tenants are keeping up homes
Visitor Question: I live in Spokane, WA. I am new here and find this city has a lot of people who are neglecting their landscapes and houses in once very
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Finding a Manufacturer of small community event artifacts?
I was recently asked to serve as a volunteer on the Recreation Advisory Board (5 board members) in our small rural community of 1900 people. Someone came
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Flood Prevention Basics for Communities: What Can You Control?
True flood prevention relies on a watershed approach. In the meantime, this page explains terms and suggests effective local steps to reduce damage.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Formerly Boarded Up House Found New Life
Last Reviewed: June 14, 2024 Editors Note: We had to change our site visitor's original title for this piece, due to some technicalities about the way
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Grandfather Clause Permitting Outdoor Storage of Fertilizers
Visitor Question: The business next to mine is claiming they can store Milorganite, fertilizers and the like outside under tarps because of a grandfather
Guide · Environment, transportation & sustainability
Green Communities Address Livability, Climate Change
Green communities contribute to sustainability by addressing climate change impacts, energy savings, water pollution, transportation, and development patterns.
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
High Cost of Flood Insurance Is Ruining Our Neighborhood
Reviewed: May 31, 2024 Visitor Question: The cost of flood insurance has just about tripled in the last year around where I live. We did have a destructive
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
How a neighborhood association can build a coalition
Visitor Question: Our neighborhood association does not seem to be getting very far with city hall. We want them to pay more attention to our issues. Some
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
How can a community improve a neighborhood
Visitor Question: What are some ways in which a community can get involved in improving a neighborhood? Editors' Reply: Juan, you ask a question we just
Visitor question · Environment, transportation & sustainability
How Can We Prevent Catastrophic Flooding?
Visitor Question: I'm finding what happened in Asheville, North Carolina in Hurricane Helene to be truly horrifying. As a minor official in my home community,

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Original guidance from A Good Community: How to Make and Keep It, owned and edited by Nancy Thompson (formerly Useful Community Development), shared with permission. Community Compass notes and updates are our own and have not been reviewed by Nancy Thompson.