Training for Officials

On-site Workshops

MAP training is available to your community year-round through our on-site workshop program. At an on-site workshop an instructor comes to your location, at a time and date convenient for your participants, and presents a comprehensive educational program, addressing the specific needs of your community.

For more information, contact MAP Director of Meetings & Membership Services Jennifer Gorchow at jgorchow@planningmi.org, or (734) 913-2000.

General Information

The following MAP classes are available as on-site workshops. With on-site workshops, you select the time, date and location of the class, and MAP provides the instructor and workshop materials. For more information on the program, including fees, please contact Jennifer Gorchow at jgorchow@planningmi.org or (734) 913-2000.

Basic Training (5-hour program)

This information-packed program is perfect for new planning commissioners and zoning board of appeals members, but it's also a great refresher course for more experienced officials or elected officials looking to learn more about these boards. Roles and responsibilities of the board, site plan review, comprehensive planning, zoning ordinances, planned unit developments, and standards for decision-making are all on the agenda.

Advanced Zoning Board of Appeals (3.5-hour program)

Quasi-judicial functions of the zoning process are handled by the Zoning Board of Appeals. This interactive, case study based workshop goes into greater depth on the issues of practical difficulty and unnecessary hardship. Recent case law is also discussed, along with a summary of voting and membership requirements, and other procedural requirements unique to ZBA operations.

Site Plan Review (3.5-hour program)

This program will demonstrate the site plan review and approval process and provide practical tools and techniques on how to read a site plan. You'll discuss site design principles, such as pedestrian and traffic considerations, lighting, utilities, ADA compliance, inspections, and landscaping.  Participants in this hands-on workshop receive an engineering scale, turning template and a sample site plan to evaluate.

Risk Management (3.5-hour program)

As more communities face litigation related to planning and zoning decisions, this is essential training for all elected officials, planning commissioners and zoning board of appeals members. Topics include identifying a conflict of interest, applying discretionary standards during special land use reviews, reasonable expectations of a developer and how your comprehensive plan can minimize risk.

Comprehensive Planning (3.5-hour program)

A comprehensive plan is the future physical development of the community. This workshop is designed for those communities updating existing comprehensive plans as well as those creating entirely new documents. Learn the purpose of a comprehensive plan, the process of creating and updating your community's comprehensive plan, and implementation of the plan.

Zoning Ordinance (3.5-hour program)

In this basic workshop you will learn how to integrate the zoning ordinance into your activities as a community official and how to effectively enforce the ordinance requirements. This session will help commissioners determine when zoning ordinance amendments are appropriate and how to amend both the ordinance text and map. You will also learn how to evaluate rezoning requests in a four-step process.