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Common Land Use Issues & Problems
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Apathy
Technocracy
The Need For Predictability
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The Overburdened Citizen
Oregon CI Advisory Committee

 

TECHNOCRACY

March 6, 2006

Land Use Committee
Hugo Neighborhood Association
Members of the CAC/NA Coalition

Common CI Issues & Problems In Josephine County

A common theme to all the citizen involvement (CI) issues and problems in Josephine County is a CI program that can be improved.1 According to the Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee (CIAC) the first 10 of the following CI issues and problems are common statewide.2

1. Common Land Use Issues & Problems
2. Funding
3. Staffing
4. Time
5. Legal Constraints
6. Apathy
7. Technocracy
8. The Need for Predictability
9. State and Federal Mandates
10. The Overburdened Citizen
11. Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee

Oregon CIAC Technocracy Observations & Suggestions

CIAC Technocracy Observations3 "Like law or medicine, planning is a complex, technical field. Citizens who venture into it for the first time are likely to be fearful about "technocracy" — government by technicians. The citizens may see their lack of knowledge about planning and the planner’s extensive knowledge as a powerful combination of forces working against him. That puts the citizen on the defensive."

"By their actions at the permit counter, in public meetings, and elsewhere, planners can ease such fears — or heighten them. Most planners intend to be helpful and want to put the citizen at ease. But sometimes the citizen still feels intimated. Such intimidation usually grows out of three problems."

"The first problem is simply poor communication — a failure by the planner to communicate complex ideas and information clearly. The second is paternalism — an assumption that the planner knows all the answers. The third is impatience, often brought on by inadequate staffing. Planners who are being deluged by permit applications are less likely to be patient and diplomatic with every citizen who comes to the permit counter."

"Planners do not purposely try to communicate badly or to be paternalistic. They mean to be impatient. That absence of malice, however, doesn’t make the problem of intimidation any less real."

More Information

CIAC Suggestions.3 "Give staff members training in effective oral and written communications. Develop and maintain programs to streamline permit processing. Use role-playing exercises to help staff better understand the lay person’s view. Maintain adequate levels of staffing at key points of contact with the public, especially the permit counter. Establish a customer service program in which the citizen is the customer and the service is access to all phases of the planning process."

More Information. Would you like to learn more? Contact a member of the Hugo Land Use Committee.

Disclaimer. This brochure is as much about providing information and provoking questions as it is about opinions concerning the adequacy of findings of fact and land use decisions. It does not provide recommendations to citizens and it is not legal advice. It does not take the place of a lawyer. If citizens use information contained in this paper, it is their personal responsibility to make sure that the facts and general information contained in it are applicable to their situation.

1. Josephine County Ordinance 93-13.
2. Oregon Citizen Involvement Advisory Committee (CIAC). July 1992. Putting the People Into Planning. Salem, OR. Web Page - http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~pppm/landuse/docs/toc.htm
3. Rohse, Mitch & Ross, Kim. 1992. Putting the People Into Planning. Funding. by DLCD for CIAC. pps. 43 - 44. Salem, OR.

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