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Planning delusion
A MEMBER OF THE planning profession stated, in a talk he made recently, the precise reason why we are so wary of “planners” and “plans.” A nationally-known landscape planner was addressing a group in Warrenton on the importance of the proper location of new houses in a landscape, and he ended up with the conclusion: “I could double the population of this county and you wouldn’t be aware of it. They could be tucked in and not be conspicuous as they are now. It makes me so furious to see tacky little houses sitting on the top of little knobs.”
That statement sums up so much of what is wrong with planners, in our opinion. They think that if it looks nice, then that’s all there is to it. This gentlemen is not the first member of his profession to state that if it looks good, it’s all right.
Well, location of houses is important. “Tacky” structures sitting on knobs are an eyesore. But the planner’s assertion that the population of a rural county could be doubled with no harm, just because the houses are “tucked” out of sight, misses what should be a primary concern.
WHETHER the houses were visible or not, their impact would certainly be noticed by everyone—the crowded highways, the crowded schools, the increased tax bills, most likely an increased crime rate, most certainly a shopping center or two, plus an altered lifestyle. Doubling the population of a rural county would eliminate that rural county. It would be an urbanized county. This “out of sight, out of mind” attitude on the part of planners, in our opinion, constitutes one of the most dangerous siren songs the planning profession can sing. It is most certainly not all right just if it’s pretty, not when all those houses mean the destruction of a heritage. As long as planners hold these views, they represent a threat to our rural environment, not an opportunity. No wonder farmers and plain country folk are sometimes apt to look askance at the planners’ lovely visions.□
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