Using local land use plan analysis to guide policy change - A Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) grantee's approach

INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) serves 29 jurisdictions in Colorado with a total population of 1.3 million. A goal of TCHD's CPPW grant is to facilitate local government land use policy change to support healthy eating and physical activity. The project described here systematically documented each jurisdiction's current healthy eating/active living (HEAL) policies and strategies. METHODS TCHD Urban Planners performed a literature review to develop an inventory of key words and phrases related to the influence of the built environment on health. Approximately 120 key words, such as “wide sidewalks,” “tree canopy,” “bike lanes,” were then grouped into key concepts (e.g., pedestrian friendly land use) for cataloging. The final key concepts were Comfort/Aesthetics, Connectivity, Environmental Deterrents, Healthy Eating, Parks/Recreation, Pedestrian-Friendly Land Use, Public Transportation, Traffic Safety and Walking/Biking. Staff then reviewed jurisdictions' Comprehensive/Transportation Plans and catalogued each jurisdiction's policies and strategies pertaining to the key concepts. RESULTS Of the 29 jurisdictions, 23 met criteria for analysis (i.e., sufficient population, existing plans with policies). Plans in the 23 jurisdictions had at least one HEAL-related policy. Policies related to walking/biking, parks/recreation, pedestrian-friendly land use and comfort/aesthetics were the most common (19 jurisdictions). Strategies for carrying out walking/biking policies were present in 16 plans; parks/recreation, 12; pedestrian-friendly land use, 11; comfort/aesthetics, 15. Policies related to healthy eating (6) and traffic safety (9) were less common. DISCUSSION TCHD developed a process for assessing HEAL-related land use planning policy, which is guiding our CPPW built environment activities, and can be replicated in other communities.