(a) There is established a program of technical and financial assistance for municipalities to encourage and facilitate the adoption and implementation of comprehensive planning throughout the state. The program is administered by the chief.
(b) The chief shall develop and administer a grants program to provide financial assistance to municipalities for the preparation of comprehensive plans pursuant to this chapter.
(c) Grants may be expended for any purpose directly related to the preparation of a municipal comprehensive plan including, without limitation, the conduct of surveys, inventories, and other data-gathering activities, the hiring of planning and other technical staff, the retention of planning consultants, contracts for planning, and related services, and other related purposes, in order to provide sufficient economies of scale and to build planning capacity at the municipal level.
(d) The chief shall establish a program of technical assistance to the various municipalities, utilizing its own staff and resources to assist municipalities in the development of a comprehensive plan. It is also a function of the chief to establish a statewide data base for the use of the municipalities. The chief also validates data established by the municipalities in the formulation of their comprehensive plans.
(e) All departments and agencies of the state, to the extent practicable, shall provide technical assistance to municipalities in the development of a comprehensive plan at the request of a municipality.
History of Section.
P.L. 1988, ch. 601, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 354, § 49; P.L. 2011, ch. 215, § 1; P.L. 2011, ch. 313, § 1.