Chip Taylor

Public policy in the private interest

Not too surprising:

Six of the nine council-appointed commissioners who rule on growth and construction issues are in development-related businesses.

Veterans of homeowner activism like Mark Patterson and Charles Laico say it's a reason local construction has, in their view, gone unbridled for so long, and they believe it has caused floods, jammed traffic and hurt their property.

The commissioners say that's not so. They're just using their professional expertise to serve the public:

Four of the planning commissioners said the opposite is the case: Those in the business know planning best, and the panel is toughest on local developers.

A couple of county council members have proposed making the planning staff independent of the planning commission and responsible to the county council:

Kirven and Burns have backed a proposal to move the independent planning staff that answers to the commissioners under more direct council control. The proposal has been stalled seven times over objections that stakeholders including builders and residents hadn't been adequately consulted.

Skeptics say putting the planning staff more directly under council control would inject politics into local development decisions.

Heavens knows there is no politics involved in those decisions now.