I think having someone look over and approve the stages is a good idea. I like to have a impartial person look them over. That person may see something you may have missed. I know that at times a stage designer may get to attached to what they are trying to accomplish with a stage and not look at it impartially.
You can also look at it from a shooters perspective, they can be more sure they won't come across something screwy or potentially dangerous. Sanctioning is in a small way a "seal of approval" that the diagrams and walkthrough at the very least followed the rules. However it is up to the club volunteers at that point to make sure it is built in the spirit of the stages submitted and with that it remains within the rules of IPSC. When a shooter spends his time and money to go to a match that could be a few hours drive and possibly even a hotel room he/she @ least has some assurances. That is where spanking offenders after the fact doesn't help.
Sometimes you may also have new club reps or stage designers that either think they don't need help, don't know they need help or just plan don't want anyone telling them what they can and can't do. We also can't have a two tier system that would say "hey Jim you are OK, John you are OK, Fred you are OK too but Billy not you." How would this be fair? Who would decide who is on the OK side and who is not? How much crap do you think a system like that would stir up? By having a rule, that was decided upon by the section, that says ALL lvl II matches must be approved it solves that issue and protects the shooter and the organization. It's not just about a club or personalities at clubs, it is also about the organization.
