Although participatory planning has become a well-established emphasis in the planning field, planners often find that land-use outcomes conflict with community goals, resulting in a dissatisfied citizenry. I argue that these conflicts often result from disconnects between steps in the planning process, which tend to occur in instances where the “baton” of implementation passes from one document or one agency to the next. I identify four common areas of disconnect within the planning process, propose explanations for each of the disconnects, and suggest ways to overcome this tendency for the planning process to break down.