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Abstract
Although all land use is local, few problems require
the more urgent attention of state legislators
than that of land use. How land is used has important
economic, social and environmental consequences that
may affect all residents of a state. States must take on
more active roles as coordinators and conveners in the
arena of land use planning if they are to address the
challenges of growth, development and environmental
protection in urban and rural areas. In so doing, they
have to tread cautiously and thoughtfully given the
historically entrenched bias towards local control of
land use decisions and the potential for intergovernmental
distrust and animosity (Nicholas 1999).