Nine minutes. Be prepared. Better to have your own legal representative and possibly a multi-disciplined engineering firm at your side too. Such was my impression of attending one of our Regional Planning Sessions.
It was somewhat intimidating too I might add. By design I suspect. The members sit on high in their semicircle thrones meting out decisions that mere mortals could not possibly understand the depth and wisdom of.
My wife and I attended this particular session because it involves the rezoning of a property directly behind our home. Our concerns reflect what many in our community express on a regular basis. There is a need to address infrastructure, overcrowding, traffic, safety for ourselves and children, the future of the area, the very things that impact everyday life.
We’ve only been here a couple of years now. Left California back in ’95 and have embraced the South ever since. We’ve lived in Louisiana, Georgia, and now Tennessee. And, like the Farmers Insurance commercial, we know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two, except, none of that matters.
We are doomed to make the same mistakes our predecessors have made for generations. In California, we watched as homes went up and hills disappeared. Streets became overcrowded. Twenty minute commutes turned into an hour and a half. Crime crept in. We still visit and there is never a conversation that doesn’t include recommendations for the best time to do something because of traffic. I could go on.
Louisiana was a different story where we moved out into an unincorporated area. Honestly, that could have used a little building activity.
Next was Georgia. It’s a wonderful little area with a mix of suburbs and rural lifestyle. It didn’t take long, we were only there 10 years, for the area to grow exponentially. Land was cleared and homes went up. You can hardly recognize portions of it. To their credit, although I wouldn’t say they were in front of the demand, they did a reasonable job of addressing infrastructure, and I’m sure it’s an ongoing effort.
Here, in Ooltewah, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to see the narrow streets and two-lane roads are quickly becoming overwhelmed. Stories of sewer system overflows, poor drainage and flooded properties are common. “Talk” of an updated “Plan” that never quite materializes. Opposition has nine minutes to present their comments, after that, shut it down, sit down and shut up. Unless they ask a question, in that case you can answer. But that doesn’t stop them from making snide public remarks at your expense.
I simply pointed out that the posting of such rezoning was done with such subterfuge as to exclude public scrutiny and comments, my wife pointed out the aforementioned concerns. The end result was we wasted our time and for that we were accused of being so petty that they hear comments like this quite frequently where new residents move in and then complain about continued growth. That is far from the case, what we would like to see is the “Planning” commission do its job and not simply dismiss the community concerns out of hand. Who is looking out for the public?
Evidently not the RPA, they seem more interested in accommodating builders, the HBA at large and collecting tax revenues. Not sure we need another rubber stamp agency that doesn’t do its job in representing the community.
Mark Haner