Citizens' Planning Academy

Class Information

The popular Citizens Planning Academy (CPA), a dynamic and interactive program intended to provide residents with a background in the fundamentals of city planning.      

CPA is aimed at educating our residents, neighborhood leaders, and future members of City Council and its appointed boards and commissions. This program provides residents and business owners with the opportunity to learn about the city planning process and to participate in six lively discussions about how city planning helps shape our community. Sessions are led by non-partisan planning experts invited by the City’s Planning Department to present on variety of planning topics. 

The CPA seeks to educate residents about city planning and is not intended to address the City’s position on any particular topic or project. CPA is open to anyone interested in learning about how cities manage the long-term vision of their residents, land uses, subdivisions, traffic, and legal matters, along with how new developments are designed, reviewed and approved. CPA participants will create a fictional project that will be brought in front of a mock Planning Commission, which is made up of their peers. The CPA concludes with a mock public hearing featuring CPA participants in various roles: developers, planners, commissioners, and citizens.

The Citizens Planning Academy is made up of six, 3½ hour sessions that include a light dinner.  Sessions begin in late August and continue through late October. Class size is generally limited to the first 25 participants registered and the program is sponsored by the City of Lakewood.  Participants are selected in the order applications are received.  

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