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Continuing Education Opportunities – August + September 2026There are over 12 CM credits up for grabs this August and September, including opportunities to earn your Equity, Law and Sustainability & Resilience credits. There’s a webinar for everyone with topics ranging from the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to data centers to public finance. Planning for Housing Reform: What’s in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Law?
Date: August 6, 2026 Description: The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act is officially law, but what does that mean for planners and the future of housing reform? Get clarity with APA and a panel of housing experts. Together we'll unpack the biggest housing law in a generation including how key provisions invest in planning, make federal programs more efficient, and support locally-led zoning reform. Find out why this law matters and how planners can play a leading role implementing its resources in our communities. Speakers:
Promises and Perils of AI: Data Centers, Energy, and Water
Date: August 7, 2026 Description: While data centers have been distinct land uses since at least the 1990s, their scale and speed of deployment have exploded in recent years due to cloud computing and the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI). This webinar will explore the multifaceted implications of data centers for local communities, focusing on environmental sustainability – particularly energy and water usage. Loudon County, VA Supervisor Mike Turner will cover lessons learned in the community with the largest concentration of data centers in the world, including developing trends in the data center landscape, possible future scenarios, and 15 best practices for local communities. Chris Dietz, Critical Infrastructure Analyst with the Idaho National Laboratory, will take a deeper dive into data center infrastructure requirements, impacts, and emerging technologies. Manny Patole, Assistant Professor at NYU’s Tandon Center for Urban Science and Progress, will conclude with thoughts on the broader implications of data centers and AI for planners and communities, including environmental justice and the role of technology in serving people. Links to a comprehensive set of resources on planning for data centers will be provided as part of the presentation. Local Public Finance for Planners
Date: August 14, 2026 Register: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_B_0QdmG0QWOjmoUVqekVQg#/registration Description: Local Public Finance for Planners: You may know a little about how local governments raise and spend money, but do you realize how closely aligned it is to planning work? We'll go over the basics of local public finance and talk about what it matters for planners. We'll talk about how budgets get created, how money is appropriated, and what happens at the end of the fiscal year. We'll also talk about state and federal grant and aid programs, and look at fiscal tools like Tax Increment Financing from a planning perspective. Land Conservation & Land Use Planning – Complementary Tools for Water Resources Protection
Date: August 20, 2026 Description: This webinar will provide planners with a primer on land conservation as a management tool to protect water resources, then highlight how land trusts and other land conservation organizations can be key community partners. Speakers will share practical strategies and two in-depth case studies from the eastern and western U.S. spotlighting where local partners have coordinated land conservation and land use planning efforts to achieve water resource goals. Planning for the Energy Transition
Time: 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM
CM Credits: 1.5 CM | 1.0 Sustainability and Resilience CM
Cost: Free
Location: Online
Organizer: APA Massachusetts Chapter and APA Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Division
Description: The session focuses on the work done by ISO New England, the non-profit entity in charge of managing the power grid, the wholesale electricity markets and long-term transmission grid planning for New England, including the states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. AICP members will gain a practitioner-level understanding of how ISO-NE plans for a reliable, regionwide electric system and how those planning functions intersect with land-use and community planning in the six New England states. The session will explain ISO New England’s three core roles and show how long-range transmission planning, load forecasting, resource adequacy, and stakeholder processes such as the Regional System Plan inform infrastructure investment and system resilience. Participants will learn how electricity reliability, cost, and the clean-energy transition intersect with local and regional planning decisions related to development patterns, housing, transportation, economic competitiveness, environmental goals, and equitable community outcomes. By the end of the session, planners will be better prepared to incorporate energy-system considerations into comprehensive planning, infrastructure coordination, and policy discussions, recognizing that energy is intrinsic to the economic, equity, and environmental issues they address every day. Data Center Approvals: Local Authority, Community Concerns, and Real-World Outcomes
Date: August 25, 2026 Description: As demand for hyperscale data centers accelerates nationwide, planners, land use attorneys, elected officials, and developers are increasingly navigating one of the most complex and consequential development issues facing local governments. These projects promise substantial economic investment and tax revenue, but they also raise difficult questions about infrastructure capacity, water and energy use, environmental impacts, aesthetics, noise, and the appropriate scope of local government authority. This webinar provides a practical, end-to-end examination of the local entitlement process for hyperscale data centers. Participants will explore the legal framework governing local review, examine what issues municipalities may (and may not) consider when evaluating applications, and gain insight into the political and community dynamics that often shape project outcomes. Drawing on real-world case studies, expert panelists will compare successful project approvals in Loudoun County, Virginia—the nation's largest data center market—with an ultimately unsuccessful hyperscale data center development in DeForest, Wisconsin. Together, these examples highlight effective entitlement strategies, common community concerns, public engagement approaches, and the lessons that planners, attorneys, developers, and public officials can apply to future data center proposals. What You'll Learn:
Preparing for Large Data Centers: Insights from Local Governments
Date: August 25, 2026 Description: As demand for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and digital services grows, proposals for large data centers are becoming increasingly common in Washington communities. While data centers can bring significant economic development opportunities, tax revenue, and infrastructure investment, they can also create challenges related to energy and water demand, environmental impacts, utility planning, land use compatibility, and other community concerns. Local governments are increasingly being asked to evaluate these complex tradeoffs through permitting and development review processes. This webinar will explore the experiences of several Washington jurisdictions (cities of Quincy, Tukwila, and Spokane) that have hosted or considered data center projects, highlighting impacts, lessons learned, and regulatory strategies that can help inform local decision-making. Implementing and Monitoring Local Climate Plans
Date: September 23, 2026 Description: Washington’s 2023 Climate Planning Law (HB 1181) added a climate goal to the Growth Management Act and requires counties and cities to include a climate change and resiliency element in their updated comprehensive plans. However, plan adoption is only the first step. Successful implementation requires jurisdictions to track progress, evaluate outcomes, and adjust strategies over time. This webinar will explore practical approaches for implementing climate elements and measuring progress. Presenters from state and local government and the private sector will discuss state requirements, implementation resources, performance metrics, reporting strategies, and local examples of climate mitigation and adaptation in action. Staff from the Washington State Department of Commerce will also provide updates on climate element reviews, grant funding, and common implementation questions. Washington Planners’ Forums
The Planners’ Forums are a combined effort on behalf of the Department of Commerce, the Planning Association of Washington, and the Washington Chapter of the American Planning Association to educate and support planners throughout our state with new and important topics to planning. More information about Planners’ Forums can be found on the Department of Commerce’s website. The following Planners’ Forum events are coming soon: Northwest Planners’ Forum Date: August 13, 2026 Description: The forum will feature presentations on the following topics:
Explore more CM credit opportunities using the CM Search function on the APA website. Stay Connected For questions or to share ideas for future training opportunities, contact Katie Enders, APA WA Continuing Education Chair, at [email protected].
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Wed Sep 23, 2026MRSC Webinar - Implementing and Monitoring Local Climate Plans Webinar Category: APA WA Events |
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