If a subdivision or some other land use item is scheduled for a public hearing, you have the opportunity to write a persuasive comment letter. The deadline for comment letters is usually a week or so before the public hearing, but you can still write a short letter even if that deadline has passed.
Comment letters can be effective tools to communicate with your local officials about land use issues, especially if you can’t make it to a hearing in person. Here are ten general guidelines for writing a compelling comment letter:
- Identify your request or concern in the first paragraph, along with the name of the file in question, and put all the supporting information in other paragraphs.
- Make it factual. If you’ve gotten your underlying facts wrong, officials are much less likely to take you seriously. Getting your facts right may take some research, especially because the rumor mill is not always accurate, and land use can be complicated.
- Cite your sources. This is a good way to let officials know you’re basing your appeal on the facts. If you’re concerned that a new development will generate more traffic than a road can handle, for example, cite the application’s trip generation report and include relevant facts about the road in question.
- Personalize it. If you have first-hand information and personal experience with the issue at hand, that will humanize the subject and give your suggestions more weight.
- Keep it as brief as possible. Officials are busy.
- Identify your request or concern in the first paragraph, and put all the supporting information in other paragraphs.
- Address the challenges the other side is articulating, if it’s appropriate. An example would be, “I understand that we have an affordability crisis, but this housing development does not actually address affordability, for these reasons.”
- Be polite and refrain from personal attacks and accusations.
- Give credit where credit is due. Thank officials for decisions or actions that you appreciate, or even just for their time and attention.
- Try to give officials as much time as possible to read your letter and look into the facts themselves. If you send a letter right before their vote, it’s unlikely they will have time to read your letter.
Here are some sample letters written to local officials about real local land use issues:
Letter Sample 1: City officials
Dear City Council and Mayor,
I am concerned about the details of the Bridge Street Sidewalk expansion project, which is up for another vote tomorrow evening.
I am sympathetic to the fact that the developer, Bridge Street LLC, has seemingly not upheld its end of an existing contract with the City of Sandpoint, and in such cases, the options are to renegotiate or threaten litigation. Obviously, litigation is costly both in taxpayer funds and goodwill. I am further sympathetic to the desire to get the sidewalk project moving to alleviate congestion at the Bridge Street/First Avenue intersection, which is clearly unsafe and is, moreover, an eyesore.
However, it is important in renegotiating to understand the implications of what a developer is asking for, even if the language and intent seem benign. Item 5.7 in the proposed agreement up for vote today talks about “maintaining public access,” but as I understand it, given the developer’s plans and the layout of the proposed “public” access, this proposed public road would not have a public egress, and would dead-end into the developer’s property. It also appears to replace existing public parking.
As a resident of the City of Sandpoint, I ask that City Council not give away public parking to effectively (if not factually) create a private driveway for the developer.
Sincerely,
Yournamehere
City of Sandpoint
Letter Sample 2: County officials
Dear Bonner County Commissioners,
Thank you for the continuing opportunity to comment on the Comprehensive Plan and Draft Land Use Map. We urge you to reconsider some recent major recommended changes to the land use map. Specifically, how the legal non-conforming uses around Priest Lake are being handled. These parcels are historical artifacts, and they should not be the guide for future land use designations and mapping.
Instead of trying to make the map look consistent along the shoreline of Priest Lake, the county should be considering the larger landscape, the capacity for development, and the potential impacts on special resources. We are concerned that the recent changes may ultimately maximize the intensity of use, whether that was your intent or not.
Moreover, the Huckleberry Bay Water and Sewer Systems manager stated in a letter that “Changing from Rural Residential for the majority of the area we serve to Recreational Community and allowing for the increase in building density to .25 acre lots would devastate our infrastructure” and as a result, “The future of our beautiful, pristine lake may be jeopardized.”
The Comprehensive Land Use Plan should look forward, and not be amended to fit nonconforming uses that may benefit a few property owners to the detriment of the whole. The Priest Lake community has overwhelmingly weighed in on the subject in favor of keeping the land use designations as-is. Because that sentiment reflects the community’s vision for the future, we urge you to revisit any areas that expand high density development near the shoreline.
Sincerely,
Project 7B