Finance 3070: City of Clemson Planning Commission Meeting

Finance 3070: City of Clemson Planning Commission Meeting

Nicole Hovatter

April 15, 2016

        I had never been to a meeting like this one before, so I wasn’t quite sure exactly what to expect prior to the meeting. According to the textbook, planning and zoning meetings exist for several reasons and have several important functions in society, but one of their primary duties is to make recommendations to their elected governing body. They also serve as a forum to handle zoning requests from the surrounding community. After attending the planning commission meeting, I can see exactly how these meetings perform these functions; I wasn’t expecting there to be an “open mic” type of time at the beginning of the meeting that gave Clemson residents an opportunity to step forward with any questions or suggestions that they might have. I thought that the opportunity for Clemson residents to step forward with concerns proved that this truly was a meeting for the residents, to aid them in any of their concerns and make their town a more organized, functional place.

        I didn’t expect this meeting to affect me personally as much as it did. To my surprise, one of their largest agenda items dealt specifically with students, and transforming housing that currently accommodates students into housing that is for single families. This agenda item immediately caught my attention; I was surprised to hear that students played such a large role in the zoning of the city of Clemson. I had no idea that Clemson residents felt as if the single-family housing was lacking. I think that this meeting opened my eyes to the purpose of democracy and voting; the committee had all types of representatives, ranging from young to old. Each member brought a different perspective to the subject matter at hand. No one member’s opinion or vote counted any more than another.