I think one of the toughest tasks that a planner often gets stuck doing is regulating something. None of us went to school to try an enforce regulations. It has put planners in a bad light in many small towns such as Boone. Planners here are inevitably tied to zoning and rules and codes. It is almost as if people suspect a conspiracy. What citizens must realize is that while planners have there own set of values, the politics drives the decisions. The planner answers to the politicians and citizen planners.

I am sure we will discuss zoning and codes in class, but I always get a kick out of people who say that they do not like zoning. It all falls back to the not in my back yard complex! Contrary to popular belief there is some zoning in Watauga County. Consider the historic ordinances in Valle Crucis and Foscoe and the polluting industries and watershed ordinances. I once had a 20 minute argument that zoning already exist in some form or fashion. To add to the mystery many citizens have no trouble answering to the private governments of poa’s which by most accounts are much more stringent than public zoning.