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GREENSBORO — They help rewrite or interpret city laws.

They decide whether developers can build a new project or the city should annex land.

They are the members of Greensboro’s boards and commissions — people appointed to represent city residents on issues that affect quality of life.

But they aren’t exactly representative of the community.

An analysis of six of the city’s most important council-appointed boards found that:

* Seventy-six percent of the members are men.

* Sixty-seven percent are Caucasian and the rest are African American. There are no members of any other race.

* The city’s five council districts are not equally represented. Council Districts 1 and 5 are underrepresented, while District 4 is overrepresented.

* Forty-five percent of the members are real estate professionals or lawyers.

City Council members said they try to recruit a diverse group of committee members. But they add it is difficult to get volunteers to serve .

Lawyers and real estate professionals — who have the expertise and leadership qualities that make them good on boards — are available and willing to do the job.

Regardless, some local residents say, the city’s boards should be more diverse.

“In a city that is stratified, like any city in the South is, you have to have people representing everybody,” said Bert VanderVeen, a resident of the Aycock neighborhood. “But you can’t mandate that.”

Council members representing districts appoint residents to fill board vacancies. The full council must approve an appointment. Often they choose people they know — colleagues, friends, political opponents or local activists.

Frequently these are people who have similar backgrounds. And that’s a situation that has both benefits and perils.

Real estate representation

In doing their analysis, the News & Record and the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress, a consortium of community groups, reviewed the resumes and applications for members of six boards.

These boards are the Zoning Commission, the Planning Board, the Board of Adjustment, the Advisory Commission on Trees, the Minimum Housing Standards Commission and the Rental Unit Certificate Advisory Board. They were picked because they have a direct impact of quality of life in the community.

The real estate industry has more members on these boards than any other business. Those numbers translate to influence over commissions, some members say.

The rental board was created to hear appeals of the city’s rental certificate program, which ensures that landlords keep rental property up to code.

The board’s chief accomplishment has been to help rewrite the city’s rental law last year.

City statute dictates that the board must be made up of people with business interests and people who represent housing advocacy groups and city districts. But in reality, the board has few people who are advocates for residents.

Seven of the 10 current members work in the real estate industry, which vehemently opposed the rental certificate program.

“Most of them on there didn’t want (the rental law) and have gone and done what they could locally to dismantle it,” said board member Willena Cannon, who represents a housing advocacy group.

Some rental board members appointed as district representatives have jobs in the real estate industry, said board co-chairman Todd Rotruck, a property manager and the board representative from the Neighborhood Congress.

“Their appointment is as a neighborhood representative, but that is not the representation they show. They are loyal to the business,” Rotruck said.

The newly revised rental law doesn’t provide for a seat for a resident on the board. But it does include a reminder to council members to try to make the board diverse — a stipulation added by the Neighborhood Congress.

Councilman Mike Barber, an attorney who also sits on the board, did not agree that real estate interests have undue influence.

“I don’t know if I would accept that premise,” Barber said. He pointed out that neighborhood and housing advocates, who were not members of the board, helped rewrite the rental ordinance.

Problem of perception?

At the time of the analysis, real estate professionals also made up more than half of the members on the nine-member Zoning Commission — a body that makes decisions that could kill or allow new development.

And the nine-member Planning Board — which oversees land policies — has two members who are in the real estate industry and two who are attorneys working for real estate clients.

“They are all wonderful on the board because they understand the issues and have a lot of information and insight,” said Joel Landau, a Zoning Commission member who has announced that he will run for City Council. “But they come from this perspective that is very pro-development.”

The Planning Board recently agreed to change the city’s regulations on signs to make an exemption for real estate signs.

Under the new rule, homes or apartments for rent or sale can be advertised in the public right-of-way during the weekends.

No other business got this kind of exemption. Businesses typically can only advertise on their own property.

Having too many people from one profession can create a problem of perception, said Marlene Sanford, president of the Triad Real Estate and Building Industry Association,

“We wouldn’t ever push for there to be more than half of the board members be truly real estate professionals,” she said.

“Even if they are making all of the right decisions, there is still a perception they would be influenced by their profession, and that is just not good for the community.”

More sides to the issue

Profession doesn’t always dictate how a board member makes decisions.

Since January 2008, the Zoning Commission has denied only 11 out of 88 requests that came before it.

Board members approved more than 60 cases unanimously, meaning members of all stripes agreed on the issues.

If you break down the votes by member, two of the board’s real estate professionals have never voted to deny a zoning or special permit, except in a few cases in which the whole board unanimously denied it.

But one of the board’s real estate representatives — real estate broker Patti Eckard — is among the members who most often votes to deny requests.

“People think, 'She is pro-development,’ but not necessarily,” Eckard said. “If we don’t have good neighborhoods, our area won’t grow.”

Both board and council members said people with special expertise can help a commission thrive.

“You’ve got to have some background in building, in real estate, to understand property development,” said Mary Skenes, a Zoning Commission member and real estate broker. “It is critical. We are making decisions that will affect the future growth or development of the city.”

The Board of Adjustments includes so many attorneys that it sometimes has to delay hearings after members recuse themselves because they are colleagues with an lawyer coming before them.

But those attorneys also help other members sort out legal language, board members said.

Commission members who have a professional stake in the board’s mission are also likely to be active, knowledgeable members, council and board members said.

The rental board has seen its citizen representatives drop out, become inactive or became uninterested. The same goes for other committees, council members said.

Seeking solutions

Council members weren’t surprised about the makeup of boards and commissions. They say it’s difficult to find good board members.

Earlier in Mayor Yvonne Johnson’s tenure on City Council, the members pushed to have better representation among the districts. And she also worked with a professional group to get more young people in the applicant pool.

“It’s still not where it should be,” she said. “I don’t know what the answer is.”

Council members said the time commitment involved in volunteering, and the fact that most committees meet during regular work hours, excludes some potential candidates.

“I’ve had people who have come and said, 'Yes I want to do this.’ But it was problematic. They thought they could work it around their work schedules, but they couldn’t,” Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small said.

Earlier this year, the Zoning Commission changed its meeting time to 5:30 p.m., in response to complaints that its 2 p.m. meeting time made it tough to attend.

That’s something council members have talked about in the past, but they have yet to recommend boards make that change.

Neighborhood Congress members will go to the council in July to ask members to be more transparent about the way they appoint people.

They also want the council to keep better track of who is on the boards, including the members’ professions, to ensure more diversity and more equal representation of districts.

“Those boards and commissions are making decisions that can have an affect on your quality of life,” said Marsh Prause, chairman of the Neighborhood Congress’ issues committee. “As a matter of principal, our government needs to be inclusive. That means being representative of the community at large.”

Contact Amanda Lehmert at 373-7075 or amanda.lehmert@news-record.com