Planning staff flags AI opportunities and cautions as commission hears national conference takeaways

Courtney, the community development lead, briefed the commission on takeaways from a recent national planning conference, describing emerging planning issues and potential local applications.

Courtney said conversations at the conference emphasized both promise and limits of artificial intelligence in planning: "AI should be adopted gradually and strategically rather than as a complete replacement for existing processes," she said, noting ethical considerations and the need to manage data effectively. Examples cited included AI-powered customer-service chat tools to answer public questions and AI applications for utility systems, transportation networks and traffic operations — tools Courtney said may be more immediately beneficial in larger municipalities but could grow useful for smaller jurisdictions over time.

Courtney also noted sessions on making zoning regulations more accessible to the public, citing an example where Boise produced a comic-book style guide explaining planning and land-use code. The department purchased Donald Elliott’s book, An Even Better Way to Zone, and added it to its library for staff reference; the book was flagged as a resource to inform future zoning conversations focused on redevelopment and reuse of developed areas.

Commissioners asked follow-up questions about job impacts and land use for potential data centers. Courtney said adopting AI likely will change job types (for example, a greater need for data managers) rather than simply eliminating positions, and said the department has noted concerns about large data-center land use for future discussion with the commission.

Courtney encouraged commissioners to attend a tentative joint work session with City Council on July 27 and noted training and resources remain available for board members.