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boards had conflict ol~interest rule5 to deter- <br />mine whether Iowa zoning boards faidy repro- ' <br />sent a ,:ross section of the community. We <br />attempted to determine whether, based on the <br />occupations of zoning board members, one <br />conid discern a systemic slant toward develop- <br />merit interests. <br /> Fhe most significant ~ndJn~ of our <br /> <br />vey was that zonin~ boa~d~ are dominated by <br />mernber~ in professional or managerial occu- <br />pations. However, the results va~ widely by <br />~he size of the communi~. While small towns <br />have a fairly representative board makeup, <br />blue-collar dtizens are dramatically underrep- <br />~esented in [arEer cities. In addition, we con- <br />eluded th~l~ the maiod~ of those sitting on <br />zonin~ boards stand ~o benefit, either directly <br />or ~ndirect[y, ~rom development. <br /> No mutter how one tooks at the results <br />.ff the su~ey, white-collar professionms <br />(inc[udin~ those in professional, technical, <br />and maoageda[ posffions) are highly over- <br />~epresented on zonin~ boards. While only <br />about a third ~f ~owa's workforce consists of <br />'..vh~te-cmlar professionals, our suwey showed <br />that abou( $4 tQ 6t percent of zoning board <br />members had white-coflar professional jobs. <br />(Jut ~u~ev ~lso ~howed that in lar~er cities <br />white<ollar professionals comprise a [ar~er <br />pair of zoning and plannin~ boards. In the <br />~,~rges~ cities, 74 to 8o percent of board mem- <br />bers were drawn from ~he white-collar occu- <br />patJon;H doss. These results are se~ out in <br />~41;h~ t and 2. <br /> Some ~ravitation toward white-collar <br />~)O;ifd mmnoer5 may be Cnevitable. [hose citi- <br />zens may bu more used to the public arena <br />~md maV hw]e more flexibte schedules ~hat <br />;~ilow rhurn ,.u oarticipate. ~hey may also be <br /> <br /> Total 1,ooo- 2,500- 5,000- '~o,ooo- 25,000+. <br /> 2,499 q,999 9,999 24,999 <br /> <br />Professional/Technical/ 54 4~ 58 641. 70 74 <br />Managerial <br /> <br />Clerical/Sales z7 22 to 2i 8 ~3 <br />Service 7 8 8 3 · 6 3 <br />~gricuttural 4 4 6 4. 3 o <br />Labor/Processing/ <br />trades <br /> <br /> Total ~,ooo- 2,500- 5,ooo- to,oeo- 25,000+ <br /> 2,499 4.,999 9,999 24,999 <br />Professional/Technical/ 6~. 50 65 64 75 8t <br />~lanagerial <br />~lerical/Sates 16 ~7 14 22 13 8 <br /> <br />Service 6 8 5 6 6 4 <br /> <br />~,gdcultural 3 4 4 4. ~ 1 <br />Labor/Processing/ t3 22 12 5 5 7 <br />Trades ' <br /> <br />more likely to express an interest in serving. <br />Nevertheless, overrepresentation of one occu- <br />pational class may skew the board's decision <br />making. Robert Walker pointed out this danger <br />in his ~937 study of zoning boards in large <br />cities. He found that almost 85 percent of <br />board members came from the white-coLlar <br />group, which he found disturbing. He thought <br /> <br />that those members, because of their status <br />and ties in the community, might be reluctant <br />to alienate business associates by ruling <br />against them, He also felt that they might tend <br />to consistently favor economic expansion and <br />development, as opposed to "the citizen point <br />of view." Oespite these concerns, the Iowa <br />survey indicates that board composition <br /> <br />ZONINGPRACTICE ~o.os 81 <br />AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION ~ page 3 <br /> <br /> <br />