The Commissioner — Fall 2005

Commissioner's Voice

Wearing Many Hats

By Jacqueline R. Wilson
Plant City, Florida, Planning Board; Hillsborough County Planning Commission

I have been involved in planning as a citizen volunteer for 20 years, serving as a member of the Plant City, Florida, Planning Board. For the past eight years, I have been an appointee to the 10-member countywide Hillsborough County Planning Commission, serving almost 1.2 million people with Tampa as its county seat. If there is anything that I would like to communicate to my fellow planning commissioners about our role, it is that we must always be ready to wear many hats and it is absolutely critical to keep up with new trends in planning theory.

Our planning commission has an original piece of art that captures the many issues that a planning commissioner has to address. The piece is a pencil sketch of a person climbing up a ladder while balancing two tall piles of assorted geometric shapes, one in each hand. It is called "The Juggler" and it sums up the complexity of serving as a planning commissioner. I have had to learn about an assortment of issues including smart growth, environmental protection, wildlife corridors, historic structures, growth management legislation, and many other subjects too numerous to mention. If that were not enough to keep up with, there is always constant change in the way these issues are addressed and dealt with. That is why continuous education in planning concepts is so important and why it is essential to be involved in professional organizations such the American Planning Association and its local chapters to further our knowledge of what is occurring in other communities so we can plan better in our own.

The job of being a planning commissioner is particularly difficult, but also exciting when you are in a community that is growing by approximately 30,000 people a year, as is Hillsborough County. The challenges become even more complex when the results of your decisions show up very quickly in the physical environment. There is little lag time in a growing community such as ours, which makes it all the more important to take your responsibilities seriously and continue to further educate yourself on planning issues.

Visit the Hillsborough County Planning Commission online