The long-standing North Carolina law that required quasi-judicial hearings for special use permits issued by municipalities and the addition to the law in 2009 that added subdivision master plans and site master plans trumped the voices of Wake Forest residents again this spring.
Despite what the Community Plan says about encouraging community involvement in land use and development decisions, ordinary people are shut out of major decisions about our town because their opinions, many based on years of observation and experience, are judged not “expert.”
The contrast between the plans for the Sam’s Club and the Tryon subdivision demonstrate the value of information and opinion from neighbors and interested town citizens. When one person tried to speak in opposition to the plan for Sam’s Club, the town attorney warned members of the planning and town boards to ignore his statements because he is not an expert. There were several people ready to tell the Tryon developer their experience with stormwater runoff and flooding in the area; the developer took them seriously and made a number of changes to his plan, probably improving it though the changes did not get the public scrutiny they should have.
The Community Plan is one of the best actions the town has taken in recent years and should be followed and used as a guide for all planning decisions. Commissioner Zachary Donahue’s presentation Tuesday night showed it is not guiding current decision-making. One reason for that is the silencing of community opinion in too many major decisions.
We probably cannot change the state law – though why not? The current group in Raleigh is upsetting many past practices and laws. But for now let us look to homegrown remedies, just as our Community Plan grew from a large number of Wake Forest people telling those in power what they wanted.
Right now developers hold most of the cards because they know the system, have the money to hire the experts and game the system quite well. And one thing planning board members and town commissioners should be told over and over – and are not – is that just because the planning department says a project meets all the requirements and recommends approval, it may not be what the community wants.
To shift the balance of power the town could pay for the experts residents need to make their case or do the research. Or it could assign a planner who would work as an ombudsman for residents – giving them notice about projects that are being reviewed, doing the research and being the expert for the quasi-judicial hearings. Or the town could ask for an exception from the General Assembly and return to general legislative hearings for subdivisions and master plans. Or some of you reading this may think of methods to increase community input.
Let the Gazette know what you think. Better yet, let the mayor and commissioners know. The hope from here is that this is the beginning of a process to give the people of Wake Forest back their voice in decisions that affect all of us.
One Response
I agree we need a better solution when it comes to citizen input. I feel we should open the public hearing, allow for the applicant to present their case. Keep the hearing open for a month, and allow opponents (and the two boards) the chance to digest the information and make a case. Opponents could present their case and the applicant could then respond and then the boards could make their decision. The way this process works now doesn’t allow for enough public comment. We also have a great way of polling folks through the town communications channels and perhaps on controversial issues, we could use those services to “take the pulse” of the community.