The Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission is more white, male, Republican and rural than the community it serves, according to a new report from the League of Women Voters.

And the appointed commissioners tend to be biased in favor of developers, the report says, often overriding concerns raised by professional planning staffers and Horizon 2020, the city-county, long-range planning guide.

Despite some critics’ concerns that the commission is stacked with members of the so-called “growth industry,” the report states that bias doesn’t appear to stem from professional affiliations.

League member Betty Lichtwardt said the report grew from concerns “that the planning commission wasn’t following any particular guide in their planning decisions. It seemed like they were ignoring the plan.”

But Planning Commissioner Jane Bateman, an interior designer who is registered as an “undeclared” voter, disagreed with that conclusion.

“I feel like we sit up there and do a terrific job of listening and coming up with the best decisions possible,” she said.

First say

Few decisions about growth in Lawrence and Douglas County are untouched by the planning commission. It has the first say on requests for zoning and land-annexation requests that decide the city’s look and shape. Commissioners do much of the legwork in creating and revising land-use regulations, such as floodplain development regulations currently under consideration.

The city and county commissions each appoint five members to the board.

“Of all the boards we appoint, the planning commission is the one that has the greatest impact,” Douglas County Commissioner Charles Jones said.

Lichtwardt led preparation of the report starting in April 2000; League members Alan Black and Melinda Henderson also were on the committee. The League discussed the report Saturday at its annual meeting.

The committee compiled demographic information about planning commissioners in 10 years and examined commissioners’ voting records for the past two years.

Aside from the demographic information, the report found:

l In the two-year period, planning staffers recommended approval of 81 percent of “significant or controversial” applications; the planning commission approved 90 percent.

l Of all applications during the two years, the planning staff said two-thirds were consistent with Horizon 2020. The commission approved 85 percent of the applications.

l The study couldn’t find a link between commissioners’ jobs and their votes. Bateman, for example, might be expected to vote for development that could bring more business to her interior design store. But she was among the commissioners who voted least often in favor of the controversial applications. She voted that way 80 percent of the time.

Too Republican?

Jones, a Democrat, has often criticized the planning commission for being too Republican. More than a third of the county’s registered voters are Republican, but six of 10 planning commission members are registered with the GOP.

“I think the report makes a lot of sense,” he said.

Bateman said she didn’t like to see political affiliations brought into debates about the commission.

“I think political party has nothing to do with this. That’s ridiculous,” she said. “We should be looking at the best person.”

Another demographic note: Half the commissioners come from rural areas of the county outside Lawrence, though 88 percent of Douglas County’s population lives in the city.

“It raises questions about one person, one vote,” Jones said.

Planning commissioner Tom Jennings said the line between urban and rural wasn’t so clear. For example, he lives in the country and was appointed by the county commission, but he earns and spends his money in Lawrence.

“I don’t know where the gray line is that I cross every morning,” Jennings said.

Because the city and county have agreed to split the appointments to the commission, that rural-urban split may not change. Lichtwardt isn’t even sure it should.

“Our committee was divided on that one,” she said. “The bulk of the land is in the county, but the bulk of the population is in the city.”

Changing the mix

Jennings, meanwhile, disputed the notion of bias toward developers, but he said he understands how it could appear to exist.

“I don’t think we are biased,” he said. “But who do we get applications from that aren’t developers?”

Lichtwardt was reluctant to identify specific instances of planning commissioners overriding Horizon 2020 and planning staffers to approve a development. She did cite one well-known example: the commission’s recommendation last year to allow construction of a Home Depot at 31st and Iowa streets.

Lichtwardt said she wanted to be careful not to be too critical of the planning commission. After all, its members don’t get paid a cent for all the hours of work they do, she said.

“It’s the most thankless volunteer job I can think of. It’s time-consuming,” she said. “They really have to be dedicated to the task.”

Nonetheless, she said that the process of appointing new planning commissioners should be more transparent to the public. It was hard to find a “pattern or procedure” for the selections, she said.

Mayor Sue Hack will name a new member to the planning commission at the end of this month to replace outgoing Commissioner Andy Ramirez. Hack said she wouldn’t make a decision based on concerns raised by the League.

“It’s a broader base than appears on paper,” she said. “And I don’t think you have to have a particular job affiliation to appreciate the entire community.”

Jones said the commission dynamics seemed to be changing with last year’s addition of Democrats David Burress and Myles Schachter.

“I think there’s change already happening on the planning commission,” Jones said. “It’s an evolving organization and will continue to evolve.”

Lichtwardt said all residents can influence that evolution when they elect the city and county commissioners who make planning commission appointments.

“If they want to have an unbiased planning commission,” she said, “residents have to vote for (city and county) commissioners who are unbiased themselves.”