Death of a planning department: Challenges for regionalism in a weak mandate state

► We investigate the rise and fall of a county planning department and planning commission. ► We find that county planning processes were well integrated with local planning processes. ► We find that the county plan would have produced more efficient land use and preserved more open space. ► The county planning department was eliminated due to political conflict and budget cuts. ► Without state leadership county planning is vulnerable to elimination. Advocates have long claimed that a regional land use planning approach achieves gains in equity, efficiency, and environmental protect, but few studies have empirically tested these claims. In this case study of a regional planning process in a weak mandate state, we find that the regional plan would have produced better land use outcomes, but its impact was severely limited by political conflicts at the county level, a recession that necessitated cuts to non-mandated services, and a lack of state leadership around regional planning. Ultimately, all these factors contributed to the eventual disbandment of the entire regional planning structure in the area.