Planning Boards Inclusion Project - UNC Center for Civil Rights
Kennedy, Melanie Jane
Good Morning,
My name is Melanie Kennedy, and I am an extern at the UNC Center for Civil Rights and a second-year law student at the University of North Carolina.
The UNC Center for Civil Rights is led by Ted Shaw, Julius L. Chambers Distinguished Professor of Law, and our work mainly focuses on education, community-based advocacy, housing and community development, social justice, and voting rights. I am writing to you to introduce you to an important project that we are currently working on, the Planning Boards Inclusion Project.
Planning boards are advisory bodies that assist county boards of commissioners with land use and zoning decisions. Their duties can also include reviewing plans for mobile home parks, reviewing applications for wireless communications facilities, and granting variances to ordinances, among others. While their decisions can have a wide-ranging impact on county residents’ lives, we found during the course of our research that the racial, gender, and ethnic makeup of these boards did not reflect the racial, gender, and ethnic makeup of the communities they served. This is particularly troubling, as the lack of diverse representation on these boards could lead to ill-informed decisions that have the ability to negatively affect a large number of people.
Currently, the Center is interested in connecting with counties and cities across North Carolina to learn about their planning boards' application and selection processes. We would love to hear about any actions or strategies you have taken to promote diversity on your planning board or any of your other advisory boards. We would also be interested in hearing more about your general process for attracting applicants to these board positions.
Please feel free to send an email reply detailing some of these actions, or if you are interested in discussing more on a phone call or zoom call, we would be more than happy to schedule a time to do so. Alternatively, if there is another point of contact who may be able to advise on this matter, please let us know.
The ultimate goal of the Planning Boards Inclusion Project is for us to share our research with communities and stakeholders. We hope to educate residents and encourage them to join their local planning boards, in the hopes of making them more diverse. We appreciate your time and sincerely hope that we can form a partnership in the cause of racial and economic justice.
Thank you,
Melanie Kennedy (she/her)
Perdita Holtz
Good morning, Ms. Kennedy,
Apologies for the delayed response – I have been out of the office until yesterday. The County Clerk’s office handles the application and appointment processes for all Orange County advisory boards so they would be your best point of contact for your questions. I’ve cc’d Laura Jensen (County Clerk) and Tara May in the Clerk’s office so you have their contact information. Please reach out to them for your inquiry if you are still seeking the information.
Thank you,
Perdita Holtz, AICP
Special Projects & GIS Division Supervisor
Orange County, NC Planning Department