County comprehensive plan not reflective of community input

By DOLLY HUNTER
http://aconews.com/articles/2008/11/14/noc/opinion/opinion01.txt
November 14, 2008
For more than one year I’ve served on the steering committee of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition. The coalition consists of nine local organizations that represent citizen activists, social service providers, community volunteers and business owners living and working throughout Orange County.

Although these organizations have diverse interests and responsibilities, we share a vision that Orange County thrive and prosper in a sustainable manner. The coalition organized itself in 2007 to participate in the county’s effort to update its existing comprehensive plan and to inform the public about this important project of Orange County government.

Last month the Orange County Planning Board presented its proposal for a new Comprehensive Plan – two years in the making – to the county commissioners. The new and soon-to-be-approved Comprehensive Plan is intended to guide growth, development and conservation efforts within the county planning jurisdiction for the next 20 years. It will influence many decisions made by county government, including those by the county commissioners.

From the beginning, the coalition’s recommendations to the Planning Board stressed the need for development that boosts the county’s commercial tax base and increases the supply of moderately-priced housing for those who need it. Specifically, the coalition believes the Comprehensive Plan should encourage a network of compact, urbanized areas that can be efficiently connected with public transportation and accommodate the county’s fair share of regional growth anticipated in the next two decades. It’s important that more folks who work in Orange County can afford to live here and afford their property taxes.

The commissioners are expected to vote for the plan’s adoption on Nov. 18. As myself and another coalition representative shared with the commissioners at their meeting last week, the coalition does not support the proposed Comprehensive Plan. The coalition’s position statement – and a record of all our efforts – can be found at http://thevillageproject.com/cpu/.

The coalition takes this position because we observed that the concerns of local citizens and organizations, like our coalition, influenced the proposal less and less as the process proceeded.

By contrast, the coalition believes that the plan’s success depends on both the effective participation of a diverse set of stakeholders in the planning process and their support for the resulting plan. The coalition expressed this principle in its vision statement: “Sustainability is achieved when stakeholders representing diverse interests work together cooperatively.”

Through no fault of their own, the planning board simply did not have enough time this summer to review all the comments it received. Instead, only a select few comments submitted by the public and community organizations were considered by the planning board during their meetings. Although unintended, the less-than-adequate regard for public comments may undermine the plan’s effectiveness. Hopefully, the county commissioners will include in the upcoming plan implementation phase several mechanisms for gathering community input and creating support.

Indeed, if the commissioners choose to adopt the proposed Comprehensive Plan as is, I hope they will let the public know how they envision implementing the plan prior to their vote. Ideally, the commissioners should make clear when and how they will seek citizen input and involvement in the implementation process, which outcomes (plan objectives) they intend to emphasize and what measures they will take to achieve these outcomes.

Working with the coalition taught me a lot about working cooperatively with a diverse group of organizations on a shared goal. I truly believe that the coalition’s recommendations chart a course for a future Orange County that embraces energy efficiency, social equity, workforce housing, a thriving economy and transit-ready walkable mixed use communities.

I would welcome the chance to participate with other citizens and local organizations interested in planning for a better future in Orange County. I hope the commissioners will make this possible, as soon as possible.

Dolly Hunter is a member of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan Coalition, which consists of consists of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, Community Action Network, EmPOWERment, Foundation for a Sustainable Community, Greater Chapel Hill Association of Realtors, Homebuilders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties, Interfaith Council for Social Service, Walkable Hillsborough Coalition and The Village Project.