On Wednesday, Aug. 20, at 9:30 a.m. on the 4th floor of the County Courthouse in the Commission Chambers, the Hamilton County Commission will determine if the future development of Hamilton County follows the informed will of the people, reinforced by direct public engagement with planning officials and commissioners over the past two years, or the last-minute demands of well-financed special interests.
To review, over the past two years, the Regional Planning Commission has conducted several public presentations, seeking – and receiving – public engagement on county development plans. This effort, called Plan Hamilton, released a preliminary draft ostensibly based on public feedback last fall. The draft received a tremendous amount of further public feedback, demanding changes, particularly from residents in unincorporated areas of Hamilton County. That delayed further consideration of Plan Hamilton to this past spring.
During this time, several commissioners representing unincorporated areas heard the concerns of residents and worked to make changes to the draft plan. The result was hardly perfect, but was a well-negotiated compromise that tried to balance residential concerns of over-development in areas experiencing already grossly overburdened infrastructure and fears of the permanent loss of valuable farm acreage with private property rights to sell land and market realities recognizing growing housing and economic development needs and opportunities.
Shortly before this much-debated deliberative process was to reach a vote in the county commission, the local Chamber of Commerce, in association with local and out-of-state developers, put forward proposed amendments to make last-minute changes to the plan. These changes, summarized in Wednesday’s meeting as Resolution No. 825-18, essentially cut-off two years of work by citizens and public servants alike right at the knees, spat on their civic commitment and thoroughly disrespects the legitimate concerns of residents in unincorporated Hamilton County. It will speed further ill-considered development of areas with insufficient infrastructure that are already straining the patience of their own constituents.
In particular, the bullet point in Wednesday’s resolution allowing for monthly changes to the plan makes a total farce of the entire planning process. I mean, who needs public engagement in developing our local communities when you’ve got the Home Builders filling re-election coffers and the prospect of growing government revenues through high density development?!
To put it simply, if county commissioners ever expect putting civic engagement to positive use in Hamilton County again, it will vote down Resolution No. 825-18 Wednesday morning. Otherwise, the civic engagement they are likely to get won’t be pleasant.
Brendan Jennings