Plans can matter! The role of land use plans and state plan

Information was drawn from 176 local governments in five states to show that land-use plans can serve as a vehicle for limiting development of areas at risk from natural hazards. Without state mandates requiring both plans and attention to natural hazards, local governments will ignore opportunities for risk reduction through planning and development-limiting land use regulations. The issues of whether governments (and communities) can reduce susceptibility to losses in natural disasters and whether formally adopted plans can be used as a tool in the policy-making process are linked in a study which used data gathered from 176 local governments in 5 states. The data show that land-use plans can serve as a vehicle for limiting development of areas at risk from natural hazards. It is demonstrated that without state mandates requiring both plans and attention to natural hazards, a number of local governments will ignore opportunities for risk reduction through planning and development-limiting land use regulations.