The Commissioner — Summer 2008

Commissioner's Voice

Dual Roles and the Planning Commission

By Martha Tassin, Chair
Member, Metropolitan Council, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The Planning Commission of the City of Baton Rouge is made up of nine members: one council member, one mayoral appointee, and seven citizens appointed by the city council. Of those seven, four are from within the city limits and three are rural, from outside of the city limits. Members must undergo extensive training to gain knowledge of our planning and zoning ordinances and guidelines, as well as attend ethics workshops. Our ethics laws prohibit a member from being employed or having any interest in real estate, engineering, property development, etc., so our members are lay people.

The planning commission staff provides the necessary support through three divisions: Advance Planning and Research, Current Planning, and Geographic Information Systems. The staff also serves the public, city department heads, elected officials, and developers.

As chairman of the planning commission as well as being a member of our city council, I serve a dual role. Planning commissioners must make decisions based upon the ordinances and guidelines set for the municipalities they represent. Elected officials are sworn to represent their constituents on issues that affect their quality of life. In many cases, both sides are very sharply divided. Developers rely on growth, and good growth is important to economic development. Developers usually work very closely with the planning staff and public works officials to satisfy the necessary requirements regarding traffic and drainage impacts, etc. Residents just want peace, quiet, and green space. Of course, there is always concern over how development will affect their property values. The typical argument I hear is residents feel that all developers are underhanded and money hungry. On the other side of the coin, developers assume that residents are not progressive thinkers and have no vision. It can be extremely difficult to get both sides to come together.

In the spirit of compromise, I always encourage developers to meet with area residents to discuss their plans openly and to hear concerns and fears about how a development or zoning change may affect them. Many citizens do no have a lot of knowledge or experience about the planning process and land use. Therefore, an open process can be very useful in forging good relationships from the start. Most developers are willing to make certain concessions and go above and beyond the required elements to satisfy the needs of neighbors. Residents ultimately end up learning about the planning process and why that vacant piece of property next to their neighborhood may no longer have residential value.

Although our endings are not always happy ones, our goal should always be to work together for the betterment of the community.