Spring 2008

Commissioner's Voice

Applause, Please

By Reeve Hennion
Chair, Jackson County, Oregon, Planning Commission

Can you imagine a crowd applauding a land development ordinance (LDO)? It happened in Jackson County, Oregon, and is an indicator of our success in developing ways to increase and promote citizen participation.

When we began to rewrite our LDO, a four-year effort, we looked for a way to bypass the inevitable opposition that always seemed to surface at public hearings. Our solution: bring the public, representing all shades of interest groups, into the process at the beginning. We formed a steering committee of some 20 people from throughout our county to go page by page through our LDO.

We hoped that most disagreements would be hashed out before we ever got to the point of holding hearings. The results exceeded our hopes. Over the course of 60 meetings in two years, we found there was no disagreement over some 95 percent of the proposed ordinance. So we could zero in on the remainder.

The steering committee made its recommendations to the planning commission as it went along, and the commission held public study sessions. All through the process, the public, interest groups, and professionals were invited to participate at the meetings of both bodies. Of course, attendance was pretty sparse at meetings where no controversial sections were discussed.

When the draft ordinance came up for its first joint hearing before the planning commission and the board of county commissioners, our governing body, there were 150 citizens in attendance — many because we mailed notices to every property owner in the county.

When we saw the size of the crowd on hearing day, those of us facing the audience were concerned, but at the end of a 30-minute presentation by the planning director, the audience burst into applause. Half the audience left after the presentation, and less than half of those remaining spoke, many in praise of the LDO and the effort that went into it.

The LDO wasn’t perfect, of course, but we were gratified at the way it was accepted.

We have used similar ad hoc committees since. In one case, we formed a committee to draft an ordinance for a committee on citizen involvement (CCI). We were looking for eight to 10 people, but when the applications came in there were 18, so we decided to appoint them all. The ad hoc committee was successful, and we now have a citizen involvement committee to help people learn about and get involved in land use. It is so successful, in fact, that two CCI members were just appointed to the planning commission.