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heard development per- mit requests that would have affected traffic gen- eration, land use patterns, and property values of these concerned non-citi- zens, elected officials instructed the commis- sion to ignore impacts beyond the city’s border. It was like placing a brick wall at the city limit. As a planning com- missioner, do you see the “lose/lose” out- come of this example? First, the city missed out on hearing valuable perspectives from people with authentic connections to the city – and who were willing to put in the time to help craft a good zoning ordinance. Sec- ond, by limiting the scope of the permit review process, the city set itself up for abrupt and incompatible land use pat- terns at its border. Moreover, the city lessened the county’s interest in receiving city input concerning development per- mits for major projects outside the city limits. Walls of this kind can stop communi- cations in both directions. 4 PLANNING COMMISSIONERS JOURNAL / NUMBER 78 / SPRING 2010 and provides a mechanism for addressing them – including input from and com- munication with affected parties outside your jurisdiction. Your second obligation is to consider the regional implications of your plan implementation actions. In last Fall’s issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal (PCJ #76), Greg Dale pointed out two areas which partic- ularly beg for you as the planning com- missioner to look beyond your community’s boundary when making decisions: (1) systems: natural environ- mental, transportation, and housing; and (2) land use impacts on adjacent/nearby communities, particularly traffic caused by major retail. There was a small group of people who lived just a few hundred feet beyond the city limits in the unincorporated county. They wanted to volunteer to serve on the ad hoc committee that was assisting the planning commission with developing the new ordinance. These individuals had long-standing ties to the community. The city was where they col- lected their mail, bought their groceries, paid their water bill, and attended church. Their children went to schools inside the city. However, since they were not actually voting, tax-paying residents of the city, their request to join the com- mittee was turned down. Later, when the planning commission THE PLANNING COMMISSION AT WORK Think Regionally, Act Locally by Jim Segedy, FAICP, and Lisa Hollingsworth-Segedy, AICP H ave you ever been riding along in your car and been able to tell exactly when you entered the city limits by the change in the road pavement? Have you ever looked at the streetscape and known right where the corporate boundary is just by the way land uses change abruptly? You don’t need to see the sign to know that you are in a different place. It is obvious to you that one community treated their bound- ary as a hard edge, and where they adjoined the neighboring community, there was no thought put into a seamless appearance of the pavement, or perhaps even of the physical development. Each community has its identity – and that’s very impor- tant – but no communi- ty is an island. In today’s mobile and global economy, the decisions that you as a planning commissioner will make must recog- nize the relationships, impacts, and opportu- nities of not only your community, but also the communities that surround you. Even in the days of the compa- ny town where everyone lived, worked, shopped, and played in the same place, people had to share resources with their neighbors. Your job as a planning commissioner is to address your community’s future, but the decisions you are asked to make sometimes have impacts beyond your own city or town. Those decisions can call for you to think regionally while act- ing locally. Your first obligation in preparing to deal with regional impacts is to ensure that your community’s comprehensive plan identifies potential regional issues What happens at your municipal border? While Dale’s article focused on ethical reasons for why a planning commission should balance the interest of a commu- nity against the broader region, this is not just an ethical issue. It is also one of practicality and common sense. Walls to Communication A few years ago, Lisa assisted a city in undertaking a complete revision of its zoning ordinance prompted by the spillover growth coming from the nearby major metropolitan area. The need for this new zoning ordinance had been iden- tified in the city’s comprehensive plan.