Date: Fri 27-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-hearing-rules

Full Text:

Commision Adopts Hearing Rules To Bring Order To Its Meetings

B Y A NDREW G OROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members have set some guidelines on

handling the high volume of comments made at public hearings on numerous

development projects.

P&Z members met September 19 in the Town Hall South conference room to decide

the best way to field public comments.

Such hearings formerly were held in that conference room, a relatively compact

space which holds 50 people, is well lit, and has good acoustics. It is also

accessible to disabled persons.

But because members of neighborhood associations have recently loudly

expressed so many concerns over continuing residential development, the P&Z

has moved its hearings to larger quarters. Initially, the P&Z used the

Alexandria Room in Edmond Town Hall. It now uses the Newtown Middle School

auditorium for its hearings.

Although both of those rooms are larger than the Town Hall South conference

room, both larger rooms have poorer lighting and weaker acoustics, making

communication difficult.

While past P&Z meetings with public hearings attracted several dozen people to

Town Hall South, recent public hearings have drawn 150 or more people to the

middle school.

And many of those people want to speak, resulting in lengthy night meetings

which can run five hours or more. So, P&Z members decided September 19, it was

time to make some rules on public comments at hearings.

In opening the September 19 session, outgoing P&Z Chairman Stephen Adams

stressed to audience members that the meeting wasn't a public hearing, and

thus the public wasn't allowed to talk.

"The public doesn't have the right to speak at this meeting," he told the

dozen people attending.

P&Z members then reviewed a legal opinion from Town Attorney David Grogins on

what steps they are able to take to control public comments at hearings.

Newly-elected P&Z Vice Chairman John DeFilippe observed "the meetings are

going very long" in light of the volume of comments made by residents and by

neighborhood groups using their intervenor status.

Meetings which continue past midnight or 1 am aren't fair to anyone present at

them, he said. Mr DeFilippe recommended that certain time limits be placed on

how long an applicant, an intervenor, or a member of the public may speak.

But member Heidi Winslow saw things differently. "I don't feel time limits are

the way to go," she said. The lengthy meetings stem from the number of

comments made, not the length of individual comments, she said.

A hearing is an event at which germane comments are presented to the P&Z, she

stressed, adding some comments made are irrelevant and can be stopped by the

commission.

"It's apparent that the public has a lot to say," said member Daniel

Rosenthal, adding that time limits shouldn't be placed on public comments.

Public hearings aren't designed for demagoguery and for unlimited numbers of

comments, Mr Adams said.

Mr DeFilippe recommended that some overall time limit be placed on P&Z

meetings to control their length.

"Limiting the meeting time is certainly a good idea," Ms Winslow said.

Ms Winslow, an attorney, recommended that the P&Z provide a one-page statement

describing the rules of P&Z public hearings to the people attending them.

She also pointed out that the P&Z isn't required to have public hearings on

all subdivision proposals submitted to it.

"Any time we can, we should have public hearings," Mr DeFilippe said.

James Boylan, a new P&Z member, suggested that the town separate the P&Z into

a separate planning commission and a separate zoning commission.

Mr Adams said he doesn't believe that separating the two land use functions

into two separate agencies would solve problems. He said most of what the P&Z

now does involves planning work, such as reviewing subdivision proposals and

preparing the town's plan of development.

Separating the P&Z into two agencies would add another level of complexity to

the town's development review process, Mr DeFilippe said.

Ms Winslow discussed the dynamic which is encouraging more development

application submissions to the P&Z.

The public wants the P&Z to tighten its regulations, she said. In light of

that, developers then rush to submit construction plans to the P&Z before it

can tighten its regulations, resulting in an increasing number of proposals,

she noted.

The P&Z accepted for review five new residential subdivision applications

totaling 81 lots on September 19. (See separate story.)

Developers had submitted those proposals by September 19 so the applications

would be considered under existing zoning rules concerning house placements on

building lots, rather than be considered under proposed new stricter rules on

the subject.

"It will calm down eventually," Ms Winslow said. "I remain optimistic that

we're going through a phase."

To impose some controls over the length of P&Z meetings that include public

hearings, commission members then agreed on several guidelines.

Meetings will start at 7:30 pm instead the customary 8 pm.

Any public hearings at meetings will run between 8 and 11 pm.

A one-page document of public hearing rules will be prepared for those

attending hearings.

Any public hearing which hasn't concluded by 11 pm will be continued to the

next P&Z meeting.

Members said they may have to meet on a weekly basis to erase their growing

backlog of subdivision proposals.