You have just been elected to the village council, and your previous experience has not prepared you to make decisions about land-use planning, economic development or infrastructure issues. That is the premise behind a new Web site developed by faculty and researchers at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., and Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa.

Called “Community and Economic Development Toolbox,” the site provides a step-by-step guide for assessing community needs, identifying goals and making plans to achieve those goals. Although the site was designed primarily for rural communities in New York and Pennsylvania, its developers note that it can assist leaders of any community — especially those of rural communities — with planning and development.

“In many communities, decision-making is constrained by a limited understanding of the problems,” says Timothy Cullenen, extension support specialist for Cornell University's Community and Rural Development program. “This is not true in every town, but, in many rural places, the breadth of problems eclipses the training, knowledge or experience of most local officials.”

For that group, the Web site offers a fast education in planning and development basics. The online tools cover:

planning, from assessing and charting local needs to writing grant proposals;

benchmarking, including an introduction to GIS;

development, including Smart Growth concepts; and

economic development, including tools for assessing the local retail market and ways of using employment data to better understand the local economy.

This year, site developers are adding sections about government policies (e.g., shared services, regionalism, zoning) and agricultural development, and they are enhancing existing modules. For example, under Benchmarking, the site soon will include information about conducting inventory assessments and community surveys. Under Development, designers will add information about planning for Main Street and downtown revitalization, telecommunications upgrades, infrastructure development, recreation and open spaces, and brownfields redevelopment.

For a closer look at “Community and Economic Development Toolbox,” visit www.cdtoolbox.org. Access to the site is free, and there is no fee for using the tools.