Don’t Take It Personally
PCJ columnist Ric Stephens offers four rules to help ensure all citizens receive a fair and impartial hearing from the planning commission.
Running productive, civil meetings can sometimes be a challenge — but it's essential if the planning commission is going to be effective. These articles and postings focus on meeting management and how to deal with contentious public hearings.
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PCJ columnist Ric Stephens offers four rules to help ensure all citizens receive a fair and impartial hearing from the planning commission.
Are you as effective as you can be in your job as a planning commissioner? Planner Carolyn Braun offers some tips for your consideration.
One of the toughest challenges facing planning commissioners is how to deal with public hearings involving controversial development projects and zoning amendments. Planners and planning commissioners from across the country offer practical suggestions.
Planning commission hearings can sometimes bear an uncomfortable resemblance to the descriptions in Dante’s epic poem. But there are ways to escape, explains PCJ columnist Ric Stephens.
Do you ever try to assess how you and your fellow planning board members look through the eyes of those attending your meetings? Getting feedback can yield valuable insights, and lead to changes in how your commission conducts its business.
As a planning commissioner, do you sometimes suffer from information overload? Some suggestions for relief.
What we say, what we mean, and what they hear at commission meetings don’t always correspond.
Why the first few minutes of your planning commission meeting are especially important.
Why the length and pace of planning board hearings can affect the quality of public participation and decision-making.
People are friendlier, to their fellow citizens and to the conveners of meetings, if their stomachs aren’t grumbling. How food can make a difference.
How do you build consensus on your planning board? Elaine Cogan offers some suggestions.
How much thought goes into your planning board’s agenda? A look at ways of improving your meeting agenda.
Land use mediation can be an effective tool in aligning divergent interests, developing creative solutions, and resolving heated disputes. An overview of how land use mediation works — and when it’s most effective.