Summer 2001

What's New

Marshall Slagle, FAICP, reports that the Kentucky State Legislature has enacted a measure to insure that appointed planning officials receive training in planning. H.B. 55 requires continuing education for planning officials. "To our knowledge," says Slagle, "this is the first legislation mandating orientation (for newly appointed members) and continuing education training for planning commissioners, board of adjustment members, and professional planning staff on a statewide basis." Slagle, in an article appearing in the September 2001 issue of APA's Land Use Law & Zoning Digest, the Kentucky APA Chapter's immediate past president, tracks how the chapter, working closely with State Representative Jim Wayne, was able to get the bill through the Kentucky legislature, which only meets once every two years. "It was the position of the Kentucky Chapter," writes Slagle, "that if we were going to have 'smart growth' in Kentucky, then we must have 'smart people' and 'smart people' all begins with education."

H.B. 55, which was signed into law on June 21, 2001, provides the following:

• All planning commissioner and board of adjustment members starting from their date of appointment are required to receive a minimum of eight hours of continuing education within each period of two consecutive calendar years.
  
• All planning professional, zoning official, and other planning assistants are required to receive a minimum of 16 hours of continuing education within each period of two consecutive calendar years starting from date of employment.
  
• Within one year prior to appointment or within 120 days of appointment, each planning commissioner and board of adjustment member shall attend a minimum of four hours of orientation training. Each planning professional, zoning administrator and assistants are required within one year prior to employment or within 120 days from the date of employment, to attend a minimum of eight hours of orientation training.

Each local planning commission is responsible for coordinating this program for each of the legislative bodies, boards of adjustment, and planning commissioners within their area of jurisdiction. The program is flexible in that the local planning commission determines how the training will take place, that is, whether it be in-house or handled by outside group(s). Further, the planning commission is charged with maintaining all records of certification of training for that planning unit. A list of subjects for education is included within the bill and others may be added by approval of the planning commission prior to December 31 of the year in which the credit is sought.

Planning commissioners, board of adjustment members, and professional planning staff, including assistants, failing to complete required minimum number of training hours, are subject to removal pursuant to the Kentucky Revised Statutes. Further, no city/county, planning commission, or board of adjustment can employ a planning professional, zoning administrator, or other assistant who has not completed the initial hours of orientation and continued education requirements.

Each planning commission or legislative body is responsible for providing training or for providing training or for funding to meet the requirement of this law.