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8 <br />resources in the Planning department were implemented. The <br />possibility exists that time/staff costs could be higher by trying to <br />accomplish these many tasks in Planning, as inevitably staff <br />members working on environment/resource issues would at times <br />be pulled away for other objectives and needs -increasing staff <br />costs and slowing action on the initiatives planned. <br />• Regulator versus advocate: Planning is a regulatory department <br />by nature, enforcing building codes, the Zoning Ordinance, the <br />Erosion and Sedimentation Ordinance and the Subdivision <br />Regulations. By contrast, the tasks planned for the ERCD would <br />largely be more of an advocacy department, much like Economic <br />Development and Housing/CD. Trying to accomplish the new <br />expanded role in resource conservation through the Planning <br />Department could pose conflicts of interest. In general, it is difficult <br />for a department to be both a regulator and an advocate at the <br />same time. <br />• Competing objectives: The goals and purpose of the Planning <br />Department cover a wide variety of important, but different, areas <br />of focus. Some of these areas include development standards, <br />erosion control, small area plans, Planning Board initiatives, Public <br />School impact fees, growth management, and Joint Planning with <br />other local governments and the schools. Placing the goals and <br />tasks planned for the ERCD in Planning would inevitably force these <br />programs and plans to compete against the myriad of different <br />objectives and goals in Planning -competing for resources of time, <br />staff, and money. The expressed purpose of the new department is <br />to raise environment and resource conservation to a higher level <br />and provide a point of focus. Accomplishing this goal would <br />unquestionably be much more difficult by making it compete with <br />other goals/objectives in Planning. <br />Finally, it should be noted that this would not be the first <br />department of this type in North Carolina. Forsyth County has an <br />Environmental Affairs Department that started in air quality but later <br />expanded to address a wider range of environmental issues. The <br />department staffs the Environmental Affairs Commission, much like the <br />ERCD would staff the Commission for the Environment. Not <br />coincidentally, Forsyth is one of the most-successful counties in the <br />state in preserving resources, particularly farmland. Mecklenburg <br />County also has a Department of Environmental Protection, which <br />staffs the Mecklenburg Environmental Protection Commission and <br />works in areas of surface water, ground water and air quality among <br />