Help Wanted

As noted yesterday in Next Up at City Council, Michelle Rudd is being appointed to serve on the Portland Planning Commission. The top Google hits for “Michelle Rudd” Portland are for a lawyer with Stoel Rives. Another lawyer, Youlee Yim You, resigned (pdf) recently after being appointed to the Multnomah County bench. Only two members of the Planning Commission may be employed in the same profession, and only two may be developers.

The Planning Commission still needs new members, since recently four vacancies opened up for the panel of nine. Apply now if you’re interested. The two developers’ slots are filled, but there’s room for another lawyer…. and desperate need for more neighborhood advocates. Ingrid Stevens and Christine Caruso recently resigned from the Commission, each having served with distinction as citizens speaking up for the long term public good. Retired Oregonian editor Larry Hildebrand often speaks up for common sense and neighborhood interests. There is no requirement for any particular interests to be represented on the Planning Commission. As a result, those applying and appointed often tend to be professionals working in planning-related fields such as developers, architects, and attorneys. It’s crucial to have some members whose primary experience is in land use issues from the neighborhood perspective – people who’ve seen how development works out, and doesn’t, in their neighborhoods, and can speak up for the family next door rather than having more experience advocating for clients.

The Portland Planning Commission handles only legislative processes, not site-specific development applications which are reviewed by the Hearings Officers in our system. The job description says the volunteer position requires 10-12 hours per month, including one daytime and one evening meeting (2nd and 4th Tuesdays). I put in more like 10 hours per week, when I was on the Commission from 1996-2003. A thick briefing packet is mailed with the agenda, a week before each meeting (so if you want to get information to Planning Commissioners before a hearing, it needs to be delivered to the Planning Commission secretary by the Friday ten days beforehand). While some Commissioners were sometimes seen opening their briefing packet for the first time at the hearing, to do the job right several hours of preparation are usually needed for each meeting. In addition to reading the staff reports and background materials, often I called staff and citizens to ask questions and find out more in advance.

So why would a citizen volunteer to donate so much time to a committee that is only advisory to the City Council?

Especially if the citizen remembers numerous times over the past decade, when the Council’s verdict overturned the Planning Commission’s advice (think tram, Linnton, I-5 bridge, etc.,).

To be part of the process. To be a voice for your concerns and those of others, even if those voices turn out to be unpersuasive to the rest of the Planning Commission and/or to elected decision-makers. To help other citizens know their concerns were heard at the Planning Commission, despite knowing the City Council members are elected to cast the final votes that are supposed to be implemented. To help set policy in the details that often escape unnoticed in the Council’s Big Picture decisions. To ask questions and consider answers.

And there are some perks, even for citizens like me whose professional career may have been harmed rather than boosted by being on the Planning Commission. You get staff reports and whatever information you want/need supplied to you, rather than spending hours and money searching for and buying it. A copy of the Zoning Code, woo hoo! If you want to learn about how our city functions, how it regulates development, and about multiple issues such as affordable housing, tax abatements, parks, clean rivers, wildlife habitat, etc., etc., etc., the Planning Commission will offer you multiple opportunities to expand your knowledge. And unlike some committees and commissions, the State requires some questions to be considered by the Planning Commission before being reviewed by Council. Elected officials may ignore or disagree with your advice, but they have to ask for it. For neighbors accustomed to going to extraordinary lengths to attract attention to neighborhood needs, that’s a powerful incentive. Good citizens, please apply today.