How the land is managed and used for development impacts a community’s growth and its regional, local, and personal transportation options. Land-use laws and guidelines, land-use patterns and development designs -- urban, suburban, rural -- auto-based development, pedestrian friendly development, and property rights all impact local and regional transportation modes and systems.

Land-Use Laws  -  State and Municipal:

Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, and the Dillon Rule is the basis of Municipal Law and defines local government powers. The Code of Virginia determines Virginia land-use, and a city’s Comprehensive  Plan is a general guide for land-use planning and zoning.  Because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, the Virginia General Assembly regulates land-use, and city governments must adhere to what is allowed. Two Virginia Codes affecting land-use include:  1) § 15.2-2223.1 which determines that cities must have a Comprehensive Plan, and 2) § 15.2-2223 which determines that each plan will include principles of new urbanism. City officials are responsible for land-use planning and zoning.

Land Use and Transportation: The Virginia Department of Transportation is responsible for the planning, funding decisions, and construction of new highways, bridges and tunnels and the “types and pattern of development influence and impact travel patterns and demand for transportation facilities”

(VDOT website).  The City of Virginia Beach’s Master Transportation Plan is a framework for the future of transportation in Virginia Beach (see section 6.10 – Land Use and Transportation).  Transportation- related concerns like increased congestion, public transportation, roadway funding and infrastructure are all considered in the planning process.

Land Use and Virginia Beach:  Land-Use Patterns: The City of Virginia Beach Comprehensive Plan “serves as the official land use planning policy for the City of Virginia Beach.” The City of Virginia Beach uses four land-use patterns: Natural Environment, Rural, Suburban, and Urban, and has identified five categories as Special Areas . As of 2007, the plan must also “identify urban development areas which this plan does through the use of Strategic Growth Areas (SGA's) (see also the interactive map) and must incorporate principles of New Urbanism and Neo-Traditional Development” (1-1, Comprehensive Plan). Transportation considerations in urban areas focus on Transit Oriented Development (TOD), which means transit-centered, walkable, compact, and mixed-use development.  Some of the transportation considerations for suburban areas focus on having a feeder bus system that ties into the city’s overall transit system, park-and-ride areas, and creating safe streets with traffic calming measures.

Tags: Dillon Rule | Land Use | Master Transportation Plan | New Urbanism | Smart Growth | Strategic Growth Areas | Traffic Calming

Q: Can an individual suggest road improvements or request a road be built?
A:  Yes, with the help of local officials. Read this PDF file:  How a Road Gets Built.

Q: What does Right of Way and Eminent Domain have to do with transportation?
A:   It is VDOT’s responsibility to keep the state owned roadway on either side of a road safe for motorists and work crews. VDOT can also acquire land from private property owners for public improvement projects.  Eminent Domain is the right of government to take private property for public use and, by law, VDOT can acquire property without an agreement so a public improvement project can continue. Read more here:  Right of Way and Guide for Property Owners.

Tags: Eminent Domain | Land Use | Right of Way

Federal Highway Administration
A tool kit for integrating land-use, transportation planning, and decision-making.

Land Use: pedestrians and bicyclists
Land-use ideas to include in land-use and transportation plans.

Institute of Transportation Engineers
Find tool kits for land-use decision-making, and lessons learned from land-use and transportation coordination.

Planetizen - Land Use
Read about land-use topics around the world.

Useful Development Community
Read this land-use planning primer written for community organizers, participants and planners.

Center for Neighborhood Technology
a leader in promoting urban sustainability—the more effective use of existing resources and community assets to improve the health of natural systems and the wealth of people, today and in the future.

Brookings Institute  - transportation studies
Brookings experts look at how to most productively invest in our transportation infrastructure.

New Urbanism

CNU Transportation Network
“Helps determine the location, type and form of land development.”

New Urban News
“ A professional newsletter for planners, developers, architects, builders, public officials and others who are interested in the creation of human-scale communities.” Search here for examples of New Urban communities.

Smart Growth

Smart Growth Resources Library
Land Development Regulations.

Environmental Protection Agency: Smart Growth
Examples of codes and zoning supporting Smart Growth.

Smart Growth America: Transportation
Read about a smart growth transportation system that includes Transit Oriented Development, street patterns that encourage walking, and bicycle friendly communities.

Tags: Land Use | New Urbanism | Smart Growth