cityplanner.ca
Discussing big picture urban/city planning and design issues.
Jun 08, 2010
Let's say you are reviewing some planning documents for a particular quadrant of your city. You're new on the job (though even if you've been on the job a while, this will be valuable), and you have some questions. Which approved plans should you be basing your decisions on? Where has precedent been set? Has an issue you are being asked to report on been addressed before?...
Veteran staff can be helpful in determining the answers to these questions, and if they are pleasant and willing to help, all the better. As with anything in life, some planners are better than others, and you will get to know who you can count on for good information. Such colleagues can really speed your training along, and can make good resources when you need to do some digging.
Whenever a veteran staff member recommends you read a particular master plan or development plan, write it down. When you have time, look it up, and if a good electronic version (i.e., a searchable Adobe PDF) is already available, save a link or bookmark to it so you can access it easily when you need it.
However, if all you can find are hard copies, then scan one in. Make it available on a shared drive and let other planners know you are starting a library of electronic files to speed up everyone's search efforts. Such a resource can make a big difference for departments with a lot of turnover, since you can relatively quickly bring newer planners up to speed on the key documents they need to know.
Searchability in such a system is very important. Down the road, you might remember a particular phrase from a sizable Zoning Bylaw or a Master Plan, but you forget the exact page or reference. Rather than thumbing through a hard copy trying to build the reference you need, you can easily search a PDF for the few words you might remember.
There are few things more frustrating than being asked to go look for something in a hard copy filing system that doesn't work. Folders get misfiled, documents (and folders) go missing, and the folder may have an encyclopedia worth of content for you to go through for the particular page or document that you need.
Every time your municipality prepares a new major plan, even if it is in a different department, either save or make sure you can access a copy. Once you feel you have a handle on the current plans, start finding and scanning in more historic plans. Don't be afraid to spend a bit of money on photocopying from government archives. Although you will encounter the odd sour archivist or librarian, I have generally found that most are only too willing to help you look up information, more information, and to share a story or two along the way. Sometimes they don't get very many visitors, especially ones that aren't carrying a seniors bus pass.
Archives and special library collections are not always open in central locations and they are not always open during lunch hours, but you may be able to get approval to switch your lunch hour around, or to make a trip there in association with another meeting or field trip. If you are smooth, you may even get approval to charge the photocopying to a particular cost centre number (e.g., one for Planning Studies) or even to petty cash.
In historic planning documents, I have come across useful and relevant quotes, maps, chronologies, organizational charts, and ideas. More than a handful of times, I have come across documents, Very possibly, you will also find, as I have, that planning reports produced around the turn of the (last) century - i.e., the 1900s/1910s - are of very high quality, and often have sections which could be applied today.
Historic documents can help you get a good handle on issues in the department that have been debated before, and on processes that have evolved over time. For instance, what sorts of checklists or ranking systems were used to assess capital budget submissions in the 1980s or 1990s? How successful was your department historically at acquiring land, collecting cash-in-lieu, or processing applications? How often were your department's appeals successful? Which worked and which didn't? If a plan set out 25 actions, how many were completed? Are there any outstanding items which are now being debated again today?
Eventually, and especially as more senior staff members retire, your knowledge of historic planning documents could be the thing that sets you apart from another, otherwise similar candidate for a promotion. Other staff will come to depend on your solid knowledge of historic documents. I have been asked numerous times about specific quotes, sections or references from historic documents, and I am happy to provide them when I know them.
More than once, I have attended meetings with community members who researched old neighbourhood association files and spent hours upon hours in the City Archives, becoming familiar with historic plans and documents. Especially where a document has been formally approved, even decades before, and has not been superceded, then that document should still be binding. Eager community members and sneaky legal types and private developers often do this research, and you should too.
You may very well catch a group or individual misquoting historic information, or misinterpreting an approved plan. Be prepared, because it could come up when you least expect it.
Veteran staff can be helpful in determining the answers to these questions, and if they are pleasant and willing to help, all the better. As with anything in life, some planners are better than others, and you will get to know who you can count on for good information. Such colleagues can really speed your training along, and can make good resources when you need to do some digging.
Whenever a veteran staff member recommends you read a particular master plan or development plan, write it down. When you have time, look it up, and if a good electronic version (i.e., a searchable Adobe PDF) is already available, save a link or bookmark to it so you can access it easily when you need it.
However, if all you can find are hard copies, then scan one in. Make it available on a shared drive and let other planners know you are starting a library of electronic files to speed up everyone's search efforts. Such a resource can make a big difference for departments with a lot of turnover, since you can relatively quickly bring newer planners up to speed on the key documents they need to know.
Searchability in such a system is very important. Down the road, you might remember a particular phrase from a sizable Zoning Bylaw or a Master Plan, but you forget the exact page or reference. Rather than thumbing through a hard copy trying to build the reference you need, you can easily search a PDF for the few words you might remember.
There are few things more frustrating than being asked to go look for something in a hard copy filing system that doesn't work. Folders get misfiled, documents (and folders) go missing, and the folder may have an encyclopedia worth of content for you to go through for the particular page or document that you need.
Every time your municipality prepares a new major plan, even if it is in a different department, either save or make sure you can access a copy. Once you feel you have a handle on the current plans, start finding and scanning in more historic plans. Don't be afraid to spend a bit of money on photocopying from government archives. Although you will encounter the odd sour archivist or librarian, I have generally found that most are only too willing to help you look up information, more information, and to share a story or two along the way. Sometimes they don't get very many visitors, especially ones that aren't carrying a seniors bus pass.
Archives and special library collections are not always open in central locations and they are not always open during lunch hours, but you may be able to get approval to switch your lunch hour around, or to make a trip there in association with another meeting or field trip. If you are smooth, you may even get approval to charge the photocopying to a particular cost centre number (e.g., one for Planning Studies) or even to petty cash.
In historic planning documents, I have come across useful and relevant quotes, maps, chronologies, organizational charts, and ideas. More than a handful of times, I have come across documents, Very possibly, you will also find, as I have, that planning reports produced around the turn of the (last) century - i.e., the 1900s/1910s - are of very high quality, and often have sections which could be applied today.
Historic documents can help you get a good handle on issues in the department that have been debated before, and on processes that have evolved over time. For instance, what sorts of checklists or ranking systems were used to assess capital budget submissions in the 1980s or 1990s? How successful was your department historically at acquiring land, collecting cash-in-lieu, or processing applications? How often were your department's appeals successful? Which worked and which didn't? If a plan set out 25 actions, how many were completed? Are there any outstanding items which are now being debated again today?
Eventually, and especially as more senior staff members retire, your knowledge of historic planning documents could be the thing that sets you apart from another, otherwise similar candidate for a promotion. Other staff will come to depend on your solid knowledge of historic documents. I have been asked numerous times about specific quotes, sections or references from historic documents, and I am happy to provide them when I know them.
More than once, I have attended meetings with community members who researched old neighbourhood association files and spent hours upon hours in the City Archives, becoming familiar with historic plans and documents. Especially where a document has been formally approved, even decades before, and has not been superceded, then that document should still be binding. Eager community members and sneaky legal types and private developers often do this research, and you should too.
You may very well catch a group or individual misquoting historic information, or misinterpreting an approved plan. Be prepared, because it could come up when you least expect it.
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Contact Myron Belej, MCIP, AICP at myron@cityplanner.ca to:
- invite Myron to speak at a conference or event
- feature a version of this article in another publication
- inquire about Myron's consulting or coaching services
- request more information
Learn more about 'How to Hire Myron'.
Contact Myron Belej, MCIP, AICP at myron@cityplanner.ca to:
- invite Myron to speak at a conference or event
- feature a version of this article in another publication
- inquire about Myron's consulting or coaching services
- request more information
Learn more about 'How to Hire Myron'.