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What is SCAPA?

More on SCAPA

Mission Statement

Bylaws

Officers / Committees

Membership Info

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More on SCAPA
Through three conferences each year, SCAPA brings in national, regional and statewide experts to address topics that affect its membership. Topics of past sessions include: comprehensive planning, open space preservation, transportation, "property rights", waterfront development, watershed protection, community visioning, new urbanism, infrastructure plans, economic development, migration, tourism, coastal resources, geographic information systems, military base closure, greenways, effective communication, board of zoning appeals, ISTEA, working with the media, and growth management. The Chapter, in conjunction with the USC Institute for Public Affairs also conducts annual workshops and training sessions for Zoning Boards of Appeals and Planning Commissions. Conferences are also used as forums on legislative issues, providing input to legislation authors or discussing strategies for encouraging or discouraging planning related legislation.

Clemson University's Department of Planning, Development and Preservation works with the Chapter to promote planning throughout South Carolina, and is the home for SCAPA's quarterly newsletter The Palmetto Planner. The newsletter contains summaries of planning agencies' activities throughout the state, featuring articles on significant projects, updates on APA activities and legislative issues, a calendar of planning events, and articles related to Chapter business. Publication costs are supported by a number of planning or planning-related consultants.

Approximately 25% of the practicing planners who are members of SCAPA have met the requirements to be accepted as members of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). The Chapter promotes AICP membership and coordinates preparation for the exam, which is administered each spring.

SCAPA serves as a resource to our membership available to provide professional and/or technical information regarding a variety of legislative matters.  Basic legislative issues of the organization include:

• SCAPA is opposed to any bill that changes the definition of, and the compensation for, a regulatory “taking” beyond that already established by the Courts.

• SCAPA supports the concept of Home Rule

• SCAPA supports sustainable development practices and is interested in the development of “Smart Growth” legislation that is appropriate for South Carolina.

• SCAPA supports the concepts of community comprehensive planning established in the Comprehensive Planning Enabling Act of 1994.

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Mission Statement
The South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association is organized to advance the art and science of planning and to foster the activity of planning - physical, environmental, economic and social - in South Carolina. The objective of SCAPA is to encourage planning that will contribute to the public well-being by developing communities and environments that meet the diverse needs of South Carolina.

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Bylaws
Click here to view or download the bylaws of the South Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association.

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Officers / Committees / Representatives

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APA/SCAPA Membership Information

To become a full member of SCAPA you must also join APA.  Check out the APA Membership Information website for membership information.

Citizen planners, elected officials, and members of related professions can join SCAPA as a Chapter Only Member and take advantage of the following Chapter benefits:

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