Yesterday, the Lebanon Planning Office hosted the quarterly informal Upper Valley planners group. Local and regional planners gathered to talk about public process, community input, and development activity in their respective towns and regions. Conversation focused on innovative public involvement techniques; permit timing and development review scheduling; and the differences between the East and West. A number of our local planners have had extensive experience in Colorado, Arizona and Montana. All states that use their professional planning staff to provide specific recommendations for approval or denials. We all agreed that here in New England, professional planners tend to present “both sides of the coin” and let the layplanners make the decisions. It seems more of the exception than the rule that pro-planners tell boards what to do…very interesting observations shared by all.
We all agreed to get together at the NNECAPA conference in Woodstock, VT in September for a local chapter socializing.