HOW DO WE USE THE LAND USE TOOLKIT?

The Implementation Handbook is the user’s manual and step-by-step guide to the Louisiana Land Use Toolkit. The Handbook serves as the instruction manual for converting the Toolkit into a customized zoning code, subdivision code or development code that meets the specific needs of your community. The Handbook identifies what you need to get started and provides an idea of what to expect as you move through the process. The Handbook is the starting point and should be consulted before beginning the implementation process.

Click on the steps below to learn more about each phase of implementing the Land Use Toolkit. 

As important as the specific rules in the Toolkit are, it is the mapping that ties the rules to the ground. The more accuracy and detail that exists in your mapping, the better positioned your community will be to manage growth and provide predictability. It is ultimately the mapping that helps apply the right rules in the right places.

Step 1: Map Regional Growth Sectors
Regional growth sectors serve as an extension of the growth management policies established in your comprehensive plan. The mapping of regional growth sectors serves as the starting point for the mapping of context areas. Learn more about regional growth sectors.

Step 2: Map Context Areas
Context areas are the organizing principle for the Toolkit and are used to help ensure the right rules are applied in the right places. The majority of the rules in the Toolkit, from the zoning districts and building types to development standards and road types, are organized around six context areas. Each context area includes different standards that are appropriate for the character and type of development that is either present today or is anticipated in the near future. The community’s job is to decide where these context areas exist today, and where they should exist in the future and map them accordingly. Learn more about context areas.

Step 3: Map Zoning Districts
Zoning districts contain discrete rules for an area that are intended to maintain or change the character of an area. The rules include dimensional standards (how big lots can be, what kind of buildings are allowed, how tall buildings can be) and use standards (which uses are allowed in each building). The dimensional standards and allowed uses vary among the districts, creating districts appropriate for the six context areas. A set of zoning districts makes up an entire context area (including areas for living, working, shopping and playing). Learn more about zoning districts.