The Planning & Zoning Center (PZC) at MSU is a multi-disciplinary team of professionals devoted to research, education and consultation on best practices for community planning and development control. It works both independently and in cooperation with many other groups both on and off campus to build a sustainable Michigan.

The goal of PZC is to improve the quality of life in the state of Michigan through sustainable development based on proper planning and the application of appropriate land use policies and development regulations. It is the objective of PZC in the accomplishment of this goal to play a major role in improving the institutional and legal structure for state, regional, county and local planning and development regulation in the state of Michigan through applied research, outreach and training serving citizens, public and nonprofit organizations, government and the academic community.

Planning & Zoning Center at MSU is lead by community planner Mark Wyckoff, FAICP, who founded the original Planning & Zoning Center, Inc. in the private sector in September 1982 as an instrument for local government and statewide education, training, and consulting in the arena of community planning and land use issues.

PZC brings expertise to MSU in the institutional structure for land use decision making in areas such as: Michigan land use case/statutory law, local land use planning and zoning, growth management, smart growth and sustainable development techniques, farmland protection, open space zoning and greenbelts developments, sand dune protection, sand/gravel mining; protection of inland lakes, groundwater wetlands and floodplains, highway noise mitigation; access management; sign/billboard regulation; and affordable housing. PZC continues to expand upon this tradition of service and promotion of responsible land policy reform.

In addition to serving as director of PZC, Mark Wyckoff is senior associate director of the Land Policy Institute.

For more information and resource links, including a listing of Michigan governments that have a master plan and/or zoning ordinance, and many other land resource publications, visit PZC at http://www.pzcenter.msu.edu/.