Planning in your hometown

[kalimotxo]

Does anyone here have any experience working as a planner in your own hometown?

This is truly a hypothetical question, but something that's been on my mind a lot as I look forward to finishing my MURP in May. I grew up in a rapidly (understatement of the year) growing county in northern Virginia that has transitioned from a rural dairy/row crop/horse farm community to a mishmash of McMansions, hobby farms, and ever increasing shit-strip development in my short 26 years on Earth. My family has been there forever, still owns a small family farm there, and despite the changes, I still feel a deep attachment to the area. The poor (although it could be worse) planning that has contributed to the situation there (or failed to prevent it) is really what got me into planning in the first place. If the situation arises, I'd like to get a job in the planning department there as I know the entire county like the back of my hand and I think I have what it takes to make sound planning recommendations there.

Having said that, I can't help my emotional attachment to the place. Example: a friends' family land that has been farmed by the same family for 250 years recently faced a quick-take condemnation by the next town over to complete a road that has been on the books for 30 years. I drove home from school to speak out against it, both as poor planning and unnecessary exercise of eminent domain. Were I a planner there, I'd be expected to defend The Plan and this road as some preordained necessity. If I didn't grow up there and have personal connections, I might not think twice about supporting The Plan. In this situation, I think it's a road that will induce development and destroy what's left of a multi-century family farm. But I'm biased, in more than one way. Also, the herky-jerky politics of the place would make your head spin (pro-growth BOS to no-growth BOS to pro-growth and all over again).

In previous jobs, I've been able to temper my bias to meet the needs of employers/clients and I consider myself a generally even-keeled worker. I don't know if that's possible at home.

Has anyone here faced similar situations in a professional capacity? I want to go home and be close to my family, tend to the land when I can, and get a decent enough job to support myself and help my parents as they get older. By getting involved in planning in a place I feel such an attachment to, would I be asking for depression and neurosis? Would being passionate about my job likely lead to constant disappointment and possible termination? Should I save my hard-earned planning skillz for a town/county that isn't already so screwed, teaching them to learn from our mistakes?

I know this is a lot, but any response is much appreciated. I've been needing to get this rant off my chest for a while. Thanks if you made it this far.

 

[p.gritzmacher]

Though I lack professional experience (graduating with BA in May and heading towards a MPA in August), I feel that the situation you're describing is quite difficult, though admirable.

I've thought about this as well, and though I understand your biases and personal connection to the area, I feel that it is in your best interest to not plan for your hometown. Your personal biases are just that - your personal biases. I know that I could see myself having too much of a personal connection to the area, the people I know, and the way things used to be.

Maybe the new citizens like the way things are going. Maybe the older citizens that you don't know think that there have been drastic improvements made in recent years. It's hard. With that many friends and family in an area you're going to have inherent biases that are going to be difficult to overcome. Just my two cents.

Good luck!

 

[cch]

My first job out of school was as a Transportation Planner for an RPC, based in my small hometown. I thought I was so lucky. But as many entry level Transportation Planners probably feel... you don't really get to do any planning, or influence any decisions. You have an advisory committee to take care of that. So, I didn't experience any of what you are asking about.

Residency requirements for high-level administrative decisions make no sense to me, because of the biases and personal connections which could be an issue. That is a whole other rant.

 

[DetroitPlanner]

I have only planned in my hometown. Not real interested in planning anywhere else.

 

[kalimotxo]

I have only planned in my hometown. Not real interested in planning anywhere else.

That's kind of how I feel. I know planners are supposed to be "objective" but I think ideally they are attuned to the wants and needs of their community to a degree that, say, the town engineer doesn't have to be. I'm sure I could go to any town in America and make an objective assessment as to whether a proposal constitutes good or poor planning. On the other hand, I see a completely dispassionate approach to planning as a recipe for mind-numbing pencil pushing. I didn't pursue this field to check boxes and I guess I'm young enough to imagine my generation is capable of actually making a difference. I at least want to give it a shot and milk this degree I spent a lot of money on before I decide to throw in the towel and start an alpaca farm.

 

[mike gurnee]

i would have loved to work in my home town. Tried a couple of times. Thsi down side of biases can easily be overcome: never say you don't have them, better to have a good grasp of them so that you are aware.

 

[illinoisplanner]

I interned for several years in my hometown. Well, not really my hometown, but the town next door. And around here, the suburb I live in, the suburb I worked for, and the suburb I went to high school in are all so very interconnected, that it might as well be my hometown. When I first moved here, it was a mostly exurban area, but rapidly developing. Lots of cute farms (the ones with cows and horses are the ones people seem to like the most), you knew your neighbors, kept your doors unlocked, knew everyone in town because of connections through the school and park districts, the one-room library, the whole nine yards. But it rapidly became a suburban area as I grew up, and we lost a lot of those things. But we gained a lot of great modern amenities and services and people around here are still genuinely nice and friendly and there's still a good sense of community and civic pride and a fair amount of running into people you know and whatnot.

By the time I started my internship, most of the farms within the town's planning area were already gone. So, I really didn't care if the last few farm fields within the town's jurisdiction were turned into shopping centers or residential subdivisions, as long as they were done right. I think that's how a lot of people feel now. However, there are still some things that are very important to people. Like preserving the downtown, preserving stands of trees, preserving wetlands, improving the river, creating parkland...and these happen to be things that are more important to me as well. The good thing is that in my county, the western half is still mostly rural, while the development is occurring in the eastern half, and most people seem to be on the same page as far as encouraging development in the eastern half and ensuring the western half stays rural for as long as possible. So, really if people want the farms, it's only just a few minutes west of town.

Also, I do know people that grew up on farms and such, but I don't feel so bad for them when they sell them to developers, because they typically wait until they can get top dollar, and then they end up living pretty comfortably.

I actually wanted to go on full-time, so that I was able to work near where I grew up, and they wanted me to too, but there was no money for a full-time position and the economy around here is so terrible. So, too bad I can't work where I grew up at the moment. But I think it will be good to get experience in some other places and hopefully bring some of the good practices I've learned to wherever I end up, and maybe learn something from these new places as well. And maybe, if the economy around here ever gets better, I'll be able to come back someday and work for my hometown again.

But, I guess to kind of answer your question, if you want to full enjoy working in your hometown, I guess you have to be accepting that you won't get your way on things all the time and learn to compromise, but hopefully you won't have to compromise too much, as long as what you value the most matches up with what the general public values the most, like in my case.

 

[kalimotxo]

I interned for several years in my hometown. Well, not really my hometown, but the town next door. And around here, the suburb I live in, the suburb I worked for, and the suburb I went to high school in are all so very interconnected, that it might as well be my hometown.

In my case, by the time I started my internship, most of the farms within the town's planning area were already gone. So, I really didn't care if the last few farm fields within the town's jurisdiction were turned into shopping centers or residential subdivisions, as long as they were done right. I think that's how a lot of people feel now. However, there are still some things that are very important to people. Like preserving the downtown, preserving stands of trees, preserving wetlands, improving the river, creating parkland...and these happen to be things that are more important to me as well. The good thing is that in my county, the western half is still mostly rural, while the development is occurring in the eastern half, and most people seem to be on the same page as far as encouraging development in the eastern half and ensuring the western half stays rural for as long as possible. So, really if people want the farms, it's only just a few minutes west of town.

Also, I do know people that grew up on farms and such, but I don't feel so bad for them when they sell them to developers, because they typically wait until they can get top dollar, and then they end up living pretty comfortably.

I actually wanted to go on full-time, so that I was able to work near where I grew up, and they wanted me to too, but there was no money for a full-time position and the economy around here is so terrible. So, too bad I can't work where I grew up at the moment. But I think it will be good to get experience in some other places and hopefully bring some of the good practices I've learned to wherever I end up, and maybe learn something from these new places as well. And maybe, if the economy around here ever gets better, I'll be able to come back someday and work for my hometown again.

But, I guess to kind of answer your question, if you want to full enjoy working in your hometown, I guess you have to be accepting that you won't get your way on things all the time and learn to compromise, but hopefully you won't have to compromise too much, as long as what you value the most matches up with what the general public values the most, like in my case.

That's interesting. Very similar to my hometown... rapidly developing in the eastern third, relatively rural in the western 2/3s. The eastern third actually used to be even more rural than the west, but it's closer to DC, so it got swallowed up pretty quickly starting in the mid 90s.

I think my perspective is relatively attuned to those of the community there. I grew up in the west and most of those who remain there seem to cherish the rural character. I'm happy to recommend growth in the east... closer to DC and it seems to attract people that want density and more urban amenities. It also keeps growth pressure off my parents and some of my friends who still farm there, which is certainly welcome.

As I said before though, this is all hypothetical. There are no job openings there but they do pop up occasionally. I'm just thinking as I get older and face the inevitably of grownup-hood, I'd like to do something truly fulfilling career-wise.

illinoisplanner, did you encounter anything in your internship that really bothered you or upset your sensibilities as a planner? Did you feel free to speak your mind when you didn't agree with the direction the department was taking on a particular issue?

 

[ThePinkPlanner]

I tried once and looking back, I'm shocked that they actually considered me. I was just weeks out of my BA and a job opened up in my small hometown of only 17,000. I had a little knowledge, and even less experience, but they asked me in for a second interview because they felt I really knew and understood the town. Maybe its different in a small town, where small town politics mean nearly everything. In the end, I'm glad they didn't hire me. I wasn't ready and it could have left a horrible rift between me and my hometown. But, if I a position opened up tomorrow, I'd give my very best effort to get it. I'd love to plan there. As it is, when I go home to visit my family, I drive around looking at things shaking my head and thinking about how they could be so much better.

 

[illinoisplanner]

illinoisplanner, did you encounter anything in your internship that really bothered you or upset your sensibilities as a planner? Did you feel free to speak your mind when you didn't agree with the direction the department was taking on a particular issue?

Not too much. Actually, sometimes, I thought some of the regulations we had in place were a little too unfriendly to business sometimes, but it never really seemed to affect the business climate around here. Businesses typically wanted to come here so much that they would work through the regulations with us. But not always. Most of the time, the regulations made sense to me, but some of them did not. I did speak up a few times, but it sometimes fell on deaf ears, or they were finally able to convince me that easing some of the regulations would be too difficult to manage. You have to learn to pick your battles. And also, be wise in how you approach things. Don't just stand up at a meeting and say, "This is an outrage!" Rather, talk to your supervisor or co-workers in private and ask questions in a nice and diplomatic way, such as, "well, what if we do this?" or, "just curious, how come we can't do this?" This approach usually worked for me. It gave me a chance to understand things and learn the reasons for things better and they also got to hear whatever input or recommendations I had, before we went forward. It's always best to sort out your differences ahead of time, so that way the department and then the municipality goes forward as a united front.

The other thing that uspet my sensibilities were things that were out of our control, like dealings with the county or state governments or adjacent communities. The county had ridiculous restrictions in place regarding their roadways that ran through our town, such as not allowing bike paths along some of them, forbidding too many stoplights (which impedes access, but allows for quicker travel-through on the county's road), and so forth. They also wanted to massively reconfigurate a major intersection, using an uncovential design, which I thought was ridiculous. We also had trouble with access agreements with adjacent towns, because they were jealous of our reputation as a sales tax-generating powerhouse. And in general, the state government's endless decades-long problems really affect things in a negative way around here, both in regards to transportation and economic development. Had we had a competent state government, substantial improvements could have been made to our regional highways and mass transit system, which would make my area a much better place to live. It would have also probably been easier to get major employers to come to the area, so that the people around here didn't have to commute an hour to get to the major job centers in the Chicago area.