Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program
A Leadership Program for Local Land Use Leaders on Land Use Strategies, Consensus Building and Community Decision-Making
The Land Use Law Center is one of the country’s preeminent organizations dedicated to fostering the development of sustainable communities through the promotion of innovative land use strategies and collaborative decision-making techniques. Through its award-winning Land Use Leadership Alliance (LULA) Training Program, the Center puts needed technical and process tools in the hands of local leaders whose decisions create the land use patterns and blueprint for future development and conservation. Since 1995, over 3,000 leaders across five states (including Utah & Colorado) have graduated from the LULA Training Program. The program is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Planning Association’s (APA) 2009 National Leadership Award for Planning Advocates. The APA cited the LULA program as “the most extensive land use leaders training program in the country.”
Program Description
The LULA training program was founded in 1995 to address general land use matters in the suburban and rural communities of New York State. Since then, it has expanded to train leaders in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Colorado and its curriculum has grown to include issues faced in urban communities, issues of resiliency and sea level rise, economic development, watershed management and fair and affordable housing. Each four-day program is designed to meet the needs of its participants and their communities by focusing on both foundational and cutting-edge information related to their priority land use issues. Participants are given a range of tools and techniques to utilize in both the land use and decision-making contexts.
A model program for the nation, one that is institutionalizing sustainable development at the local level.
—Paul Johnson, Former Chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA
Participating in the LULA Program
Candidates for this program are respected and objective local leaders who are nominated by the program’s steering committee, sponsors, and trainers. Nominees are often chairs and members of the legislative body, planning and zoning board members, administrative board members, members of other local bodies involved in the land use process, local landowners, developers, business leaders, community activists, and representatives of civic and environmental groups.
LULA Theory and Practice
When accepting nominations, we look for candidates who use law and consensus building theory to help their communities understand that solutions to complex, persistent problems are more likely to be reached through authentic collaborative initiatives than adversarial processes. Each day, participants in the program engage in lecture-based learning, experiential learning, and unstructured, social interaction with other leaders. Through unstructured components and breakout sessions, participants develop relationships, build trust, and learn from the experiences of other leaders.
The teaching of the LULA program is based on a “train the trainer” model, through which participants are empowered to share their program experience with others. This model encourages the creation of leadership networks, initiates and supports grassroots regionalism, creates opportunities for civic engagement, and fosters sustainable communities. Responsive to the articulated goals of the assembled participants, the LULA curriculum is designed with sufficient flexibility to adjust to participants’ greatest concerns and arms participants with more than just relevant knowledge; most leave with a renewed sense of empowerment to assist their community in its ability to deal with change.
Impact
Many LULA graduates have reported significant success in leading their communities to effective action to preserve historic centers, revitalize their riverfronts, arrest negative development patterns, achieve intermunicipal planning, preserve farm land, and to enhance their economic development prospects through revitalization techniques.
Resources for Graduates
Participation in the LULA program does not end after four days. Graduates have access to a wealth of information and resources available through the Land Use Law Center, as well as educational and networking events available throughout the year.