ND Statewide Planning Survey

North Dakota Statewide Planning Issues & Needs Survey

This survey is the foundation of an interim legislative study focused on identifying planning concerns across the state of North Dakota. The study is a cooperative effort between the ND Planning Association (NDPA), ND League of Cities, ND Association of Counties (NDACo), and ND Township Officers Association (NDTOA).

Audience for this survey: Zoning Administrators, Planners, Planning & Zoning Commission/Board members and elected officials of all North Dakota’s cities, counties and townships. If your role does not fall into one of those categories, please do not take the survey, but encourage individuals in those roles to complete the survey on behalf of your city/county/township.

Aims of this survey:
1) To gather baseline data about planning and zoning practices and resources from every city, county and township in North Dakota.
2) To find out what the most urgent planning and zoning challenges and needs are for your city/county/township.

Directions: this survey consists of 21 questions. All questions on the survey are required, unless otherwise indicated. For open-ended questions, please be as detailed as possible and offer as many examples or comments as you would like.

Notes:
1) individual-level survey results will not be shared. Data and responses will be aggregated into broader categories.
2) in this survey “Zoning Administrator” means the person within your city/county/township who handles planning and zoning related responsibilities, whether or not their official title reflects that role.

Question Title

* 1. Which choice best describes your role within the city/county/township you represent/work for?

Zoning administrator / Planning Director / Planner

Planning & Zoning Commission/Board Member

Local elected official

Other, please list

Question Title

* 2. Please select the type of political subdivision that you represent/work for?

City

County

Township

Question Title

* 3. What are the most significant, ongoing planning and zoning challenges your city/county/township faces? [select all those options that apply, and please list additional items if you wish]

Conflicts in extraterritorial areas

Conflicts surrounding wind energy facilities

Conflicts surrounding energy transmission facilities

Conflicts surrounding animal feeding operations

Conflicts over dedication of right-of-way during the subdivision platting process

Capacity to make progress toward planning goals is limited due to local political environment

My city/county/township lacks capacity (adequate staffing or staff expertise, adequate plans and ordinances, etc.) to effectively engage in basic planning & zoning activities.

Inadequate legal counsel on land use matters (i.e. State’s Attorney’s office lacks expertise, or lack of funds to hire outside legal counsel)

Limited ability to enforce zoning and/or building regulations

Lack of affordable housing units

Lack of viable public transportation options

Lack of economic diversity or slow economic growth

Urban growth management

Development options are limited by lack of funds to extend infrastructure (such as water lines, roads, etc.).

Others, please list

Question Title

* 4. Please describe in greater detail the planning and zoning issues you listed in the previous question and what you believe the root causes of those issues are. [for example, if you selected “conflicts in extraterritorial areas,” please explain if these conflicts are due to resident complaints, lack of cooperation between neighboring city/county/townships in the joint extraterritorial area, etc.].

Question Title

* 5. Referring to the selections you made in question 3, what would be your preferred solutions to these issues?

Question Title

* 6. Please choose the option that most accurately completes the following sentence. Within the city/county/township I work for/represent, planning and zoning-related staff consists of____.

A zoning administrator who also serves other functions (such as Auditor, Emergency Services Coordinator, Building Inspector, etc.)

One part-time planner

One full-time planner

A department that includes a director and at least one additional planner.

A contractor/firm that handles development applications and planning services on an occasional or as-needed basis.

A contractor/firm that handles development applications and planning services on a regular or monthly basis.

Other, please describe.

Question Title

* 7. Is ArcGIS mapping software available within your city/county/township to support planning/zoning activities?

Yes

Question Title

* 8. Please complete the following sentence with the option you agree with most. Neighboring city/county/townships have __________ resources to devote to planning, as compared to my city/county/township.

A similar level of

Fewer

Other, please list.

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* 9. How would you rate the functionality of your current Zoning Code/Zoning Ordinance (meaning internal consistency, completeness, and ease of use to interpret and apply on a regular basis)?

Excellent

Good

Satisfactory

Poor

Very poor

Question Title

* 10. In what year was the most current version of your Comprehensive/Long-range Plan adopted? [if your city/county/township does not have an adopted Comprehensive Plan, please write “none” in the blank. If you are unable to determine the exact date but believe it was more than 20 years ago, please write “20+” in the blank].

Question Title

* 11. For this question, "Planning & Zoning Commission" means the commission or board whose function it is to review and make recommendations to the full City/County/Township Board of Commissioners regarding planning & zoning matters. In some jurisdictions this body may alternately be known as a "Zoning Board" or other name.
Please select the statement(s) below that most accurately describe(s) the status of the Planning & Zoning Commission for your city/county/township and the process of replacing Planning & Zoning Commission members (you may select more than one statement, if applicable).

No Planning or Zoning Commission/Board exists for my city/county/township or the Planning or Zoning Commission/Board is not active (i.e. only the City/County/Township Commission/Board reviews development applications).

My city/county/township generally does not have difficulty filling seats on the Planning & Zoning Commission as seats come open.

There is generally a shortage of citizen applications (or no applications) to fill a Planning & Zoning Commission seat when there is a vacancy.

There is a shortage of citizen applications (or no applications) specifically for the Planning & Zoning Commission seat(s) designated for residents of the extraterritorial area.

There is frequent turn-over of Planning & Zoning Commissioners and rarely a moment when all the seats are full at the same time.

Other, please list.

Question Title

* 12. If your city/county/township has an adopted Comprehensive/Long-range Plan, does the plan include a future land use map?

Yes

I don’t know what a future land use map is.

Question Title

* 13. What are the three greatest needs of your city/county/township, related to carrying out planning and zoning activities?

Planning & Zoning Commissioner training/education

Having a full-time planner on staff

Zoning code update

Comprehensive plan update

Capacity to create maps using ArcGIS software

Access to legal counsel with expertise in land use law

Zoning enforcement

Others, please list.

Question Title

* 14. In your city/county/township, are there barriers to effective planning that you believe require a legislative solution? (i.e. changes to North Dakota Century Code) If no, write "no" in the blank. If yes, please describe what legislative changes you would ideally like to see adopted by the state legislature.

Question Title

* 15. How urgent do you believe it is to achieve legislative changes, such as those you listed in the previous question? (on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being not urgent at all and 5 being extremely urgent). Only answer this question if you responded "yes" to the previous question.

1 - not urgent at all

5 - extremely urgent

Question Title

* 16. During the 2019 Legislative Session, House Bill 1297 sought to eliminate extraterritorial areas (ETAs) altogether (link to the bill text is here). The bill failed in the House. It is very likely that this bill will be introduced again in the 2021 legislative session. Please choose the statement below that you most agree with.

ETAs are an essential tool for effective planning and should be preserved. No changes to Century Code are needed at this time.

ETAs can be useful, but the current framework in Century Code is in need of revisions.

ETAs cause too many conflicts and should be eliminated altogether or replaced with a different type of policy.

Question Title

* 17. Use the space below to provide a rationale for your answer choice in the previous question. (i.e. what ETA conflicts in particular does your city/county/township deal with or what Century Code revisions would you suggest, with respect to ETAs? If this rationale is the same information you provided in question 4, please answer “see question 4.”)

Question Title

* 18. During the 2019 Legislative Session, House Bill 1165 sought to allow any and all non-conforming residential structures to have automatic standing to be reconstructed, even if damaged beyond 50% of market value (link to the bill text and revisions are here). Passage of the bill would essentially allow non-conforming residential structures to persist indefinitely. The bill passed the House but failed in the Senate. This bill is certain to be introduced again in the 2021 legislative session. How important is it to you that your state association (NDPA, ND League of Cities, NDACo, or NDTOA) fight against the passage of this bill?

Extremely important

Important

Neither important nor unimportant

Unimportant

I would support passage of this bill

Question Title

* 19. If you responded “Extremely important” or “Important” to the previous question, describe the issues that passage of HB 1165 or a similar bill would create for your city/county/township, if any.

Question Title

* 20. Please list the ND state legislative district(s) in which the city/county/township you represent/work for is located. For cities over 15,000 population, please type “large city” into the answer box. A map of legislative districts can be found here.

Question Title

* 21. Please use this space to make any additional comments that you believe are important for your state association and the state legislature to understand about planning activities, needs or issues in your region.