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W <br />Commissioner Dorosin said a lot of time has just been spent talking about how to <br />engage people earlier in the process, and he thinks that engaging them with the Planning Board <br />early in the process is part of this. He asked if the public hearing could be left open and could <br />include the Planning Board's recommendation, as well as any public input. He said this is more <br />honest and sincere. He asked the attorney if this could be done. <br />James Bryan said the Board has broad discretion over legislative decisions. <br />Commissioner Rich asked why the Board closes the public hearing to comments. <br />Perdita Holtz said she is not sure why this is done. She said this is how it is written, and <br />it predates anyone on the staff. She said this would be a policy change with some minor text <br />amendments, and staff would need to work with the attorney's office regarding those items with <br />a re- zoning and a special use permit. She said this needs to be looked at closely. <br />Commissioner Rich said she understands not having the public hearing all over again, <br />but that's the part that doesn't make sense. <br />Perdita Holtz said the problem arose in the mid- 2000's. She said it used to be that the <br />public hearing was just open and there was always a requirement for written comments only <br />after the oral public hearing. She said the UDO would have to be re- written to state that this is <br />no longer a requirement. <br />Commissioner Price said she likes to go home at a reasonable hour, but she also likes <br />to hear what people say. She said she was on the Planning Board for an extended period of <br />time, and people would come to meetings and express their opinions. She said quorum was <br />rarely an issue. She said there were times when the board disagreed with the Commissioners, <br />and she would support the Planning Board hearing from the public before making a decision. <br />She said if it is the pleasure of the Board to hear other comments on the day that the public <br />hearing is closed, she is for this as well. <br />Commissioner Pelissier said she would like to hear the Planning Board recommendation <br />after the public comments. She said when she was on the Planning Board, no one really <br />thought about what the Commissioners thought. She said the Planning Board was there to give <br />advice, and as a Commissioner she looks to this advice when making land use decisions. <br />She asked planning staff if they have been able to predict which will be the difficult <br />decisions and which will not. <br />Planning Board member James Lea left at 9:42 p.m. <br />Perdita Holtz said no, not necessarily. She said staff would have to toss a coin. She <br />said obviously text amendments take longer to discuss. <br />Commissioner Pelissier said the legislative decisions are easier to incorporate into the <br />meetings, but the quasi - judicial decisions are more of an issue. She is not sure how to address <br />it, but she would like some consideration to not having these boxed in to so few dates. She <br />would like to see more than a quarterly option. <br />Commissioner McKee said he wishes he could say if it isn't broke, don't fix it, but this is <br />broken. He agreed with Commissioner Dorosin's comment about taking public comment at the <br />later meeting. He also agrees with Chair Jacobs' comments about time management and trying <br />to figure out how long these meetings are going to be. He said he is confused, and he thinks all <br />of what he has heard is reasonable. <br />He suggested that the current framework should be maintained, and the Board can <br />tweak it to make it more public friendly. He suggested maintaining the quarterly public hearings <br />due to the necessity of quasi - judicial decisions. He said maybe there will be other controversial <br />items that don't belong in a regular meeting. He said the Board should just tweak the things that <br />need to change, and if those tweaks don't work, they can be changed back. <br />Perdita Holtz said planning staff often does not know that an application is coming until <br />right at application deadlines, which are based on the public hearing process. She thinks that <br />the attorney would disagree that it is okay to have two different processes for judicial and <br />legislative processes, but not for quasi - judicial items or legislative items. <br />