TECHNOLOGICAL METHODS FOR IMPROVING CITIZEN PARTICIPATION IN LOCALLY UNACCEPTABLE LAND-USE (LULU) DECISION-MAKING

With numerous metropolitan areas and communities, particularly those i n Florida and the southern United States, experiencing rapid populatio n growth, the need to expand existing infrastructure support facilitie s is imminent. However, necessary measures such as widening transporta tion corridors, building new solid-waste disposal facilities, and exte nding electrical power line right-of-ways are labelled as ''LULUs'' (L ocally Unacceptable Land Uses), and are met by public protests. In man y instances, citizens residing adjacent to, or owning land targeted fo r unpopular land-use changes claim that they are being unfairly left o ut of the land-use decision-making process. Local government officials complain that time and budget constraints do not allow for extensive public participation. The resulting controversies have delayed the com pletion of many projects. The purpose of this paper is to apply geogra phical information systems (GIS) in an attempt to form a ''happy marri age'' between potentially impacted citizens and public officials faced with difficult land-use decisions. A decision-making framework is dev eloped including decision support systems (DSS) and expert systems, al lowing for balanced, objective input from citizen laypersons, municipa l officials, and technical experts.