On January 13, 2005, the Legislative and Policy Committee of the American Planning Association (APA) adopted a draft policy guide that defines the role of planners in ensuring the safety of communities and establishes policies regarding the security of infrastructure information. These policies, developed in response to the catastrophe of 9/11 and the incident at Columbine, will be considered at the National Planning Conference in March of this year. TPR is pleased to provide excerpts from the APA's Draft Policy Guide on Security.
III. ISSUES OVERVIEW
At all levels of government, planners are directly involved in decisions that affect the arrangement and design of buildings, environments, and open spaces, as well as for the design and operation of transportation systems and other public facilities. ...
Effective planning for safe communities and secure facilities requires a holistic perspective shared among planners and other design professionals, along with first responders. Planners have long been active in the area of planning for natural hazards, fires and other disaster events, and recovery and reconstruction following catastrophes, as well as in crime prevention through defensive design and comprehensive planning. ...
It is important that planners be directly involved along with other design professionals in security planning that respects the urban fabric and public life. But in many instances architects and engineers have been sought out for guidance on security issues, while the planners' perspective has been overlooked. ...
A policy guide on security is needed now in order to ensure that planners are able to influence and participate in government policies and legislative decisions that involve security, as well as to define the role of planners in security matters.
V. POLICIES
1. The General Need for a Planned Approach
The APA and its chapters support security as an element to be addressed as part of an established process for community comprehensive planning. Ad hoc security solutions are less likely to be effective, and thus should be avoided. ...
2. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)
The APA and its chapters affirm that as a planning policy that promotes a sense of community, encompassing public involvement activities and planning for defensible spaces and "eyes on the street," Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) has been shown to be an effective deterrent to crime, and should be adopted by state and local governments as the basis for security planning. There are many proven planning and design measures to control the physical environment and to reduce crime, such as design controls, natural surveillance, natural access control, territoriality, security lighting, and others. These planning measures can address vulnerability and risk in a more effective manner than have many of the post 9/11 ad hoc measures which heighten fear and compromise unduly the unique character of a place and of a community. ...
3. State and Local Policies Affecting Building Locations, Street Closures, and the Public Realm
At the local level, the APA and its Chapters shall promote the adoption and implementation of security planning policies that enable communities to implement strategies fostering smart growth.
In the development of security plans and plans for safe growth and safe communities, the APA and its Chapters advocate the adoption and implementation of local policies and standards that are based on performance rather than prescriptive criteria. Security standards should focus on the appropriate mitigation of potential threats. Requirements for building setbacks, parking, and ground floor retail uses should be consistent with smart growth planning principles such as those included in the documentation of the APA "Growing Smart" initiative...
4. Policies and Standards Affecting the Location and Design of Federally Owned or Leased Facilities.
The APA and its chapters support the establishment of Federal building location standards that are consistent DMA 2000 and with FEMA publications in the Risk Management Series (RMS). These standards would be more consistent with smart growth planning principles and would be more effective in maintaining a sense of community within developed areas. ...
5. Security Planning for Transportation Facilities and Services
Along with consideration for the location and design of physical barriers and the enactment of standoff distances when necessary and appropriate, the APA and its chapters support the planning and implementation of vehicular and pedestrian evacuation routes as an element of comprehensive security plans involving the location of buildings and public spaces.
Further, the APA and its Chapters advocate the development of security provisions that enable communities to implement smart growth strategies and transit oriented development without undue design constraints. ..
6. General Security Planning Policy for Public Facilities
The APA and its Chapters endorse the adoption of a security planning process for public facilities that at a minimum includes the following objectives:
Protection of human life and structures;
Minimization of the costs of disaster response and recovery, and
Minimization of the potential demand for scarce resources during an emergency. ...
7. Building Design for Security
The APA and its Chapters support building code revisions that promote general security objectives, particularly as these revisions relate to:
Parking
Landscaping
Lighting
HVAC Systems
Entry Ways and Access Points
Lobbies
Elevators and Stairwells, and
Delivery Docks.
The APA and its chapters also support the expansion of the scope of building codes. related to the location and design of features such as windows, mail rooms, trash bins, and computer systems.
The APA and its chapters recommend that localities undertake a comprehensive review of their development review and permitting processes, in order to adopt measures and regulations that could reduce the likelihood and mitigate the effects of terrorist attacks. ...
8. Incorporation of Security Issues into the Comprehensive Planning Process
... The APA and its Chapters advocate the inclusion of a range of security measures, including measures for prevention, protection, and response, into local and regional planning programs. Planners should work to ensure that local comprehensive plans include security elements, incorporating provisions for the design and placement of community infrastructure and land uses that reduce the risk of threats to the public health, welfare and safety of communities.
Threat and vulnerability assessments should be incorporated directly into comprehensive plans, capital budgets, and the regulatory process. ...
The APA and its chapters support the enactment of state requirements for the development of a safety element as part of an overall comprehensive plan. ...
9. Use of GIS and Related Technologies
The APA and its chapters support additional federal involvement in the development of GIS and related data and applications, recognizing the federal government's current role as the most important source of geographic and remote sensing data.
The APA and its Chapters also support the adoption of state and local policies and procedures that will facilitate the sharing of geospatial data, along with GIS and GPS related technological expertise, among planners and first responders for security purposes. ...
10. Coordination with First Responders
In matters related to security policies and plans, the APA and its Chapters support closer coordination of local and regional planners with police, fire and emergency medical staffs. The APA and its chapters are committed to elevating the level and quality of discourse and communication between planners and first responders in routine, local level planning activities. The public interest would be better served by more consistent and better-informed working relationships between planners and first responders. ...
11. Federal, State, and Local Consultation
In matters related to planning for security, the APA and its chapters support the more consistent and effective enactment of, Executive Order EO-12372, entitled "Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs." EO-12372 requires that "... federal agencies shall provide opportunities for consultation by elected officials of ... state and local governments." EO-12372 further requires that federal agencies shall "communicate with state and local elected officials as early in the program planning cycle as is reasonably feasible to explain specific plans and actions."...
12. Threat and Vulnerability Assessments
In the preparation of threat and vulnerability assessments, the APA and its chapters support the development of design standards that vary according a site-specific risk assessment. A one-size-fits-all approach to vulnerability assessments risks the misallocation of public and community resources. With careful attention to the principles of urban design, the concept of layers of defense can help to minimize the potentially adverse impacts of physical barriers, minimum standoff distance requirements, and hardened construction methods.
The APA and its Chapters further support the development and adoption of advanced methodologies for conducting threat and vulnerability assessments at the building, site, and community levels; best practice standards for the mitigation of threats at the building, site, and community levels; and new standards for the review of subdivisions, site plans, and special exceptions that include vulnerability assessments along with consideration for emergency response and the continuity of operations. ...
13. Access to Public Meetings and Records
... In specific instances where a significant threat to homeland security has been clearly established, the APA and its chapters support the enactment of state and local legislation and regulations that are intended to restrict access and disclosure of data, public documents and meetings of public officials. ... These restrictions should only apply in instances where there is a serious potential threat to security that clearly outweighs the ongoing need for public discourse or the disclosure of public information. ...
14. Allocation of Public Funds
The APA and its Chapters support the development of a national strategy that sets minimum standards for the protection of all citizens while concentrating funds and energy on areas at highest risk, for the purposes of allocating scarce resources among competing funding priorities. In partnership with Federal agencies, including but not limited to the Department of Homeland Security, state and local governments must play a direct role in the development of an appropriate risk-assessment strategy. ...
Additional public funding is required in order to achieve more effective coordination among planners, design professionals, and first responders.
Additional public funding is also needed for the further development and implementation of new technologies for security planning, including remote sensing, visioning, scenario building, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies. ...
15. Education and Research
... The APA and its chapters support the initiatives being undertaken regarding security as a principal component of the APA's Safe Growth America Initiative, including the forthcoming Safe Growth Reader. These initiatives will allow the APA to take a leadership role in education of planners, planning commissions, zoning officials, local government officials and the public on the elements of site and building design in relation to security issues. ...
In instances where states develop continuing education requirements for citizen and professional planners, the APA and its chapters support the inclusion of security planning as one of the required elements.
The APA and its Chapters support specific research on interactions of local planners with police, fire and emergency medical staff, relative to security policy and plan making processes. ...
VI. NEXT STEPS
...The best solutions are those that have community participation in the planning and implementation of the recommendations. Planning, land use and design decisions can play a major integrative and facilitative role in achieving these results. Consideration of multiple objectives will create greater economic efficiencies and improve the quality of the security by optimizing community participation in its own security...
VII. REFERENCES
Zelinka, Al, and Dean Brennan. Safescape (APA Planners Press, 2001).
National Capital Planning Commission. The National Capital Urban Design and Security Plan (2003).
FEMA 426: Reference Manual to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks (2003).
FEMA 430: Building, Site and Layout Design Guidance to Mitigate Potential Terrorist Attacks (forthcoming).
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