Executive Summary of the HUD/APA Smart Growth Legislative GuidebookSome chilling excerpts from the summary:
By adopting the model statutes,
a state is subjecting itself
to the mandates and policies of the federal government.
Uniform national standards have been
devised that include technical
specifications even for such
traditionally local issues as parking and landscaping. (8-101)
The practices of a small minority
of states are recommended for adoption
by all states - for example,
the Guidebook recommends and authorizes amortization
of non-conforming uses while currently
only eight states authorize even a limited
form of what the Guidebook recommends. (8-502)
Model statutes confer broad regulatory
power in "local governments"
- local governments being broadly defined as
"any county, municipality, village, town, township,
borough, city or other general purpose political subdivision." (3-101)
This means, for example, that New York County, New York City
and the Borough of Manhattan could all regulate land use in Times Square.
State legislatures must require local governments
to draft ordinances to mandate that virtually all
employers adopt and implement a commute trip
reduction program which must include, among other things,
designation of a transportation coordinator,
annual reporting to local authorities and implementation
of transportation measures, such as providing subsidies
for transit fares and permitting the use of
the employer's vehicles for carpooling. (9-201)
And this , which to me is one of the scarriest provisions:
Administrative warrants can be issued to search
private property if the search is consistent with
a valid administrative scheme, such as housing safety -
probable cause is not required.
Inspection warrants issued pursuant to an administrative
scheme can be easier to get than
criminal search warrants. (11-104(4);
see also Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523 (1987)
and See v. City of Seattle, 387 U.S. 541 (1987))
Check it out.