News that the Grantsville Planning Commission, which is dominated by members connected to the development and building industries, is now to be headed by a real estate broker is cause for alarm. Planning commissions are charged with shaping the future growth of a town in accordance with its master plan and in consideration for the wishes of all the town's residents. These bodies should be made up of impartial, objective members, not industry insiders who could potentially benefit from decisions the commission makes.
Will a planning commission comprised entirely of pro-development interests ensure Grantsville's infrastructure keeps pace with residential construction? Will it ensure the town has adequate greenbelt space and parks? Will it work to preserve the town's rural feel or will it lose sight of that goal each time a new developer comes to town with big promises? Finally, will it be objective and impartial, or will the interests of its members -- and their industry colleagues -- always be tangled up with the zoning requests and projects it reviews?
Like many small cities, Grantsville has difficulties finding volunteers who want to serve on a commission where hearings can occasionally be quite contentious and special interests can be forceful to the point of bullying. In that regard, we have sympathy for Mayor Anderson, who appoints members to the planning commission. Given everything else the part-time mayor has on his plate, it must be difficult to seek out non-development-industry volunteers, particularly when industry insiders are so eager to get involved.
But Grantsville, and other small cities, must find a way to remake planning commissions so that they better represent all the residents of the town. That means small business owners, environmentalists, recreationalists and ordinary citizens should also have a seat at the table -- as they do in planning commissions across the nation. Building industry expertise should not be the sole factor in deciding who makes up the commission. In fact, a broader perspective might be exactly what's needed.
Many Grantsville residents would take exception with new planning commission chairwoman Angela Grant's assertion that infrastructure is keeping pace with new residential growth. In Grantsville, $300,000 homes pop up like mushrooms after a rainstorm, yet children have no sidewalks to walk to school on, the curb and gutter system is patchy, high-density apartments box in agricultural fields, streets run to nowhere, large-acreage lots make homes unaffordable for first-time buyers, and there hasn't been a major public park built in decades.
Many of these problems are solvable, but only by a planning commission that is free from conflicts of interest -- a planning commission that represents all of the town's citizens.